New History
by Skones
Summary: Very A/U Calzona. Callie starts a new six month assignment in Africa with the Peace Corps. There, Callie meets Arizona Robbins, another member of the Peace Corps...and Callie's new bunkmate.
1. It's Only Life

**A/N: So this is me starting a story when I have two others to update... (This story has no relation to the episode of Grey's Anatomy called New History)**

**Again, I may keep this a one-shot because i'm sure how people are going to like the idea :D But tell me if you want to read more. I would like to say, I don't know much about the Peace Corp or Africa so if I get something wrong, I'm very sorry :D**

**About Thursday's ep... Ahhh! The beginning of Calzona drama, I don't know whether to be glad or freaked, but I'm still pretty optimistic that they'll make it...**

**Update 3/13: Sorry for calling Africa a country :D Whoops... I'm going to fix it sometime today...**

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**New History**

**Summary: **Very A/U Calzona. Callie starts a new six month assignment in Africa with the Peace Corp. There, Callie meets Arizona Robbins, another member of the Peace Corp...and Callie's new bunkmate....

But you can't win  
If you never give in  
To that voice within  
Saying pick up your chin  
Baby let go of it_  
_  
Take your hesitance  
And your self-defense  
Leave them behind, it's only life  
Don't be so afraid  
Of facing everyday  
Just take your time, it's only life  
I'll be your stepping-stone  
No, don't be so alone  
Just hold on tight, it's only life

-"It's Only Life:" Kate Voegele

Heat. That was the first thing Callie Torres felt upon stepping out of the plane onto the wide desert expanse before her. It hung over the area like a blanket, suffocating, and leeching water out of the dry scrub with greedy fingers. It occurred to her that Africa wasn't going to be anything like her beloved Seattle; this land looked like it hadn't seen water in days and it lacked the lush green expanse of trees that characterized her hometown.

The brunette made a mental note to appreciate the constant rain in Seattle rather than cursing the clouds for soaking her everyday. She even missed having to carry an umbrella with her everywhere she went. It really didn't look like she was going to need one here.

Still, she found the place had a wild beauty. It was rugged, dry for sure, but it was relatively untamed. There was energy in the landscape and there was something exciting about the huge expanse of open land before her.

A sigh escaped her lips as she hefted her pack over her shoulder and looked around the tarmac for the group of Peace Corp Volunteers. This was definitely going to take some getting used to.

"Over here!" A loud voice echoed from a distance across the pavement. A tall man was waving a clipboard in the air and he was already surrounded by a group of people all clutching the same type of pack Callie was holding. She nodded in acknowledgement and hurried over the group.

"So," the man announced gruffly as he began checking names off on a clipboard. "Welcome to Africa, for most of you this isn't your first assignment with us, for some it's going to be you last…" A nervous laughter emanated from the assembled volunteers but the man didn't look remotely amused. "I'm John Seely, I'll be your guide during your time in Africa. This area can be intimidating, but just stick close and follow my instructions and you'll be fine." He paused, "I assume all of you know why we're here?"

A timid voice rose above the rest, "I heard it was about health education?"

"Yep. We're mostly here to help the community build up a safer medical facilities but you will be doing some work in the clinics. Nothing too heavy," he added as some people started to look nervous. "I'm going to call roll to make sure we're not missing anyone then we'll head over to the camp."

Callie tried to commit names and faces to memory as the instructor read them off of his clipboard but they quickly became a blur.

"Robbins?" He asked as he neared the end of his list. "Arizona Robbins?"

"Here!" A blonde on the other side of the loose circle raised a hand and John checked the name off on his clipboard before continuing.

"And lastly…" He frowned down at the clipboard as he awkwardly sounded out Callie's name. "Cal…lio…pe Torres?"

"Callie," she corrected as she raised a hand. "Just Callie."

"Well, 'just Callie' that's it for the roll call, everybody grab your bags, we're heading out!"

He led them over to a rickety bus that was parked at the very edge of the landing strip. Dutifully, Callie and the rest of the group dropped their bags off in the compartment under the bus before heading up and finding seats on the bus.

"Everybody take your seats," John hurried the volunteers along as he sat down in the drivers seat. Wrenching the lever next to the drivers seat forcefully, the doors squealed shut loudly, causing everyone to jump and the guide to mutter something unintelligible under his breath.

A short, brown haired man set next to Callie, offering her a warm smile, which she returned.

"Hi," he mumbled as the bus began its halting drive up the dirt road. "I'm Sam," he stuck out his hand and Callie shifted in her seat so she could shake it.

"Hey, I'm Callie… Is this your first time in Africa?" She asked, her voice hitching up an octave as the bus hit a bump in the road, something it did quite frequently.

"First time out of the United States," Sam admitted with a laugh as he held onto the arm rest for support. "I'm a school teacher, first grade actually, but I decided to take a few years off…" He gestured around the bus, "and I ended up here. What about yourself?"

"I've never been to Africa either. I'm a surgeon at a hospital in Seattle." A fond smile creased Callie's lips as she remembered Seattle Grace. She still had a good six months before she was finished with her time with the Peace Corps but Richard had promised he would always have a position open for her.

"Really, a surgeon? That's pretty intense."

Callie nodded, "It is, sometimes a little too intense… Either way, I needed a change for a bit."

"I get that," Sam replied appreciatively. "I kept seeing reports on the news about disasters in foreign areas, places where people could use our help. I wanted to help, in whatever small way I could, so I joined the Peace Corp." Callie was about to reply, but John's loud voice sounded from the front of the bus.

"We're here!" The guide called as he yanked the brake on the bus and they slid to a lurching halt. "Everybody out!"

Callie said a quick goodbye to Sam and they both got up out of their seats, glad to be off of the vehicle Callie had secretly named 'the Deathtrap.' They piled out of the bus, anxiously scrambling for their bags and personal belongings. Callie reached down and grabbed her pack, hefting it out of the pile and settling it over her shoulders. She shoved her hands deep into her pockets as she waited for the group to assemble. A few people wandered over in her direction, fiddling with the straps on their packs and gazing in wonder at the nature surrounding them. If she hadn't been completely awed by her location when she got off the plane, she was now. There was open space surrounding their camp as far as she could see. A few trees dotted the horizon, blobs of bright green against the sandy colored expanse.

"Dang it," Callie heard the muttered curse behind her and she spun around. Behind her, a blonde woman was tugging at her pack before she ceased her efforts and gave the offending object the evil eye. An amused smile tugged at Callie's lips as she walked over, advancing on the edge of the pile of luggage.

"It's caught," Callie murmured as she reached over and kneeled beside the bus. She grabbed one of the straps from the pack, freeing it from where it was caught on the inside compartment of the bus. "Here ya go."

"Thanks," the blonde replied gratefully as she threaded her arms through the straps on the bag. "I'm Arizona by the way… Arizona Robbins…" Arizona flashed Callie a breathtaking smile as she stuck out her hand.

"Callie Torres," Callie shook the blonde woman's hand and retuned the smile.

"Gather up!" John called, as he stood in the center of a small group of tents. "C'mon guys!"

"Duty calls," Arizona laughed as Callie nodded.

"Apparently. It was nice to meet you Arizona." Callie answered as she headed over to where their guide was standing.

"Likewise..."

"Okay, time to go over some guidelines." John announced as the volunteers gathered around him in a disorganized semi circle. "Firstly, this isn't our settled location. In two days we're going to be moving to an area closer to the city, so don't get too comfortable." They group eyed the tents doubtfully, comfortable? "Daily, I expect you guys to help out with cooking as well as whatever task you are assigned for that day. We're going to make up a schedule for that type of thing over the next couple of days."

"What exactly are we… uhh… Going to be doing here?" A tall man with graying hair asked.

"Like I said before, mostly we are going to be assisting with the medical clinics in the area and helping with sanitation efforts… Actually I think we have two surgeons in the group? Could you guys raise your hands?"

Callie raised her hand, looking curiously around the circle for the second hand. The blonde who Callie had helped by the bus, Arizona Robbins, raised her hand also. Callie's eyes widened in surprise, as did Arizona's when she saw the other surgeon was Callie. Slowly, the brunette felt a blush stain her cheeks as Arizona grinned at her.

"Well, you two will be stationed in a medical clinic here for most of the time. The rest of the group will be working more on the logistics of the practice but you two will be helping out with surgeries and the emergency injuries that arrive at the clinic. I assume that's fine?"

Both Arizona and Callie nodded and John looked them over approvingly. "Okay, now for some rules," he continued. "Stay with someone at all times, at least during the first month or so. Please don't go running off if you see a giraffe or something because, there is the occasional lion, which doesn't make for a very happy encounter. Once we get to the final camp and the actual clinic, we'll go over more of the specifics."

Murmurs broke out among the group but John raised a hand, calling for silence again. "I know you guys are anxious to get settled, so I'll read out the bunk assignments and we can discuss more over dinner. These people will be your bunkmates for the entire trip, so you'd better make fast friends."

He guide began listing off pairs and pointing to separate tents instructing the volunteers to only unpack the bare minimum to preserve some of the small tent space. Callie listened anxiously for her name,

"My two surgeons: Torres and Robbins, you're in tent number six." John pointed to a tent on the far west corner of the camp and gestured for them to head off.

Arizona walked over to Callie, a smile twisting up the corners of her lips. "So, it looks like were roommates…"

"Yep." Callie answered as they arrived at the tent, and she dropped her pack unceremoniously onto the ground. "Definitely not roommates, more like… really tiny, cramped, tent mates…" Callie said with a laugh as they surveyed their small, living space. Her comment elicited a giggle from Arizona, something that once again made Callie blush.

Arizona reached down and unzipped the entrance, exposing the small interior of the tent. She threw in pack inside, following by Callie who did the same while clambering into the small space.

"So, what specialty?" Arizona asked as she began unraveling her sleeping bag over one half of the tent. "Surgery, I mean…"

"Orthopedics," Callie replied as she rummaged around inside her own pack. "Yourself?"

"PEDs, I took some time off but I'm transferring hospitals when I get back to the States." Arizona explained. "How about you, where do you work?"

"Seattle Grace," Callie unrolled her sleeping bag and placed her pack safely in the corner of the tent. "I took some time off as well, but I'm heading back there once I finish with my term."

"Really?" Arizona asked, surprise coloring her tone. "That's one of the hospitals I'm considering," she laughed. "You can tell me all about it…"

"Dinner in two hours!" John's voice echoed around the camp. "You guys have free time until then, use it wisely!"

Arizona leaned against the wall of the tent, careful not to put too much weight against the fabric covering. Callie settled herself similarly against the opposite wall, unable to keep her eyes from her 'tent mate' for very long.

"So…" The blonde began, seeking to fill the silence that had settled over their tent. "Any ideas about how we should spend our free time?" She asked playfully while fiddling with the zipper on her sleeping bag.

"None whatsoever. I would like to explore the area a bit but I don't think that would go over too well with our guide," Arizona giggled but shook her head.

"Just don't go running off after any giraffes," Arizona responded with a wry smile. "Then I would have to sleep in this tiny tent all by myself."

* * *

Darkness settled over the camp quickly as the time slipped by. Soon Arizona's free time had dwindled to about six minutes and she reluctantly headed over to the center of the camp area to eat dinner.

A foldable table had been set up; it was equipped with stacks of paper plates, plastic eating utensils and an odd assortment of food. People were already surrounding the feast, eagerly grabbing forks and plates and taking large portions of what looked to be rice and some sort of meat.

After grabbing her own plate of food, Arizona looked uncertainly around the group of volunteers for a place to sit. A man named Sam, who was sitting next to Callie and a taller black haired man waved her over.

"Over here Arizona!" He called and she cast him a grateful smile.

"Thanks," she murmured as she sat down and set her plate out on the table. Callie, who was sitting across from her, flashed her a quick smile before returning to her food.

"So, what's it like being a surgeon?" the black haired man asked, whose name turned out to be Josh. "Is it really bloody and gross?" his question was for either Arizona or Callie but the blonde piped up first.

"Sometimes," she answered quietly. "It's very rewarding through, when we get to give someone their life back…" Arizona looked to Callie for support, and the brunette nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, it gets very stressful at times. But like Arizona said, when a surgery goes well it's one of the best feelings in the world." The man surveyed the two of them with something akin to an awed look.

"I used to want to be a doctor," Sam supplied during a lull in conversation. "But, I was always good with kids so I decided to become a teacher..."

"You know what they say," Josh replied snidely. "Those who can't do, teach…"

"Then you should teach manners," Arizona answered, as she took a sip of her water, looking at the black haired man with annoyance. Her eyes moved to Callie's face and she saw a mix of admiration and laughter present in Callie's deep brown eyes. Sam laughed, good naturedly causing Josh's eyes to narrow.

"It was a joke," he stabbed viciously at his food and shoveled a forkful into his mouth. "I mean really, get a sense of humor…"

"If it was a joke it wasn't a funny one," Callie said as she wiped her fingers on a napkin.

"Whatever," Josh tossed his plate into the plastic bag meant to hold trash and moved to sit at another table.

"And that, is my bunkmate for the next half a year…" Sam announced with remarkable cheer, "I'm in for a fun time aren't I?"

"We got your back," Arizona laughed, "Don't we Callie?"

"Totally," Callie answered, smiling at Sam as she threw away the remains of her dinner.

* * *

About two hours later, Callie crawled into her sleeping bag and snuggled down into the synthetic material. Arizona was lying awake beside her, her blue eyes fixed on the ceiling of the tent. Her blonde hair was pulled up into a messy ponytail and her fingers tapped anxiously against her wrist.

"I can't sleep," she announced into the darkness, turning her face toward Callie.

"Closing your eyes always helps," Callie mumbled with a yawn, but she turned her face against the pillow to face Arizona. "Are you on a different time zone?"

"Yeah, where I live, it's about…" Arizona paused while she did some mental math, her brow furrowing in her concentration. "I think it's about noon where I live… I'm not really sure though…"

"Where do you live?" Callie asked.

"I live in Chicago, I mean… For a year and a half now I've been with the Peace Corp, but I got a few days to go back home and I readjusted to the time zone…"

"That stinks…" Callie murmured, already on the edge of sleep. She had no trouble sleeping, time zone or no time zone. Something she had learned from working at a hospital was: if you have time to sleep, don't waste it, because your pager will go off and ruin it soon enough…

"I'm sorry," Arizona blushed and lay flat on her back again. "I'm keeping you awake." She pressed her lips together, something which, even in her half-asleep state, Callie found adorable. "I'll be super quiet now…"

"S'okay…" Callie mumbled into the fabric of her pillow as she drifted off to sleep. Arizona giggled and returned her gaze to the ceiling, letting her tent-mate have some sleep. Every few minutes until she managed to fall asleep, Arizona's blue eyes would flick over to the sleeping form of the brunette.

_Stop it._ Arizona mentally scolded herself, as she once again found her gaze slipping to Callie's face. _Falling for your bunkmate is not a good way to start a six month term in Africa… especially if she's going to be your bunkmate for the entire six months._

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**A/N: So, One-Shot or more?**

**I plan on updating Pictures of You on Sunday and Tidal Wave sometime next week... **

**Reviews=Awesomeness, please tell me if you would like to read more :D**

**P.S. I know the beginning might seem similar to Tidal Wave, but I have a different plan for this story, don't worry :D**


	2. Score One for Team Awesome

**A/N: I know I said Saturday, but one of my exams got cancelled, so now I actually have time! :D**

**Anyway, so first off HUGE UBER MEGA thanks for all of the reviews I think that's the most I've ever gotten on a chapter of a story, so really, thanks!**

**I don't really know how angsty to make this, it will probably end up being somewhere in between Tidal Wave and PIctures of You, any input/suggestions are welcomed!**

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** New History**

**Chapter Two: Score One for Team Awesome**

_I've gone for too long living like I'm not alive_  
_So I'm going to start over tonight_  
_Beginning with you and I_  
_When this memory fades_  
_I'm gonna make sure it's replaced_  
_With chances taken_  
_Hope embraced_  
_I hope I told you_

_I'm not going _  
_cause I've been waiting for a miracle_  
_And I'm not leaving_  
_I won't let you_  
_Let you give up on a miracle_  
_Cause it might save you_

_-'Miracle' by Paramore_

Arizona wrenched her eyes open, abruptly sitting up in her sleeping bag and rubbing a hand over her eyes. A loud siren rang through the campground, followed by John's voice magnified through some sort of microphone.

"Everybody awake?! The sun is up, breakfast in ten you guys!" The microphone clicked off and Arizona flopped back down into her sleeping bag, letting her eyes close briefly before sitting up again and stretching. Arizona jumped as an exhausted groan emanated from the mass of blankets next to her. All she could really see of Callie was her tent mate's messy black curls, tied up into a ponytail but still obscuring most of her face.

"Five more minutes," Callie moaned into her pillow as she buried herself further down into her sleeping bag.

"C'mon _Calliope_" Arizona put a teasing emphasis of the brunette's full name, enjoying the way it felt on her tongue. She had heard it when the guide had been calling roll yesterday, but she hadn't guessed that her bunkmate loathed her full name. "Time to get up." Apparently, Arizona's chosen wakeup method worked wonders because instantly Callie jerked awake.

"Don't call me that," Callie muttered as she eyed Arizona from under the mass of hair draped across her face. "Only my mother calls me that, and I guess my dad does too but only when he's angry with me… oh and Mark, when he's being mean…" Arizona's lips quirked up into a tired smile as Callie vehemently derided her full name.

"I like it," Arizona countered as Callie fixed her ponytail and reluctantly unzipped her sleeping bag. "Somehow, it suits you…" She tilted her head to the side and scrutinized Callie for a moment before nodding decisively, "you're definitely more of a Calliope than Callie." Callie blushed slightly and turned away, but Arizona didn't see the hint of a pleased smile that played across her lips.

"Next you'll be calling me Calliope Iphe-" Callie clamped a hand over her mouth, silencing her verbal vomit. Arizona raised an eyebrow, but Callie shook her head, a suggestion of a playful challenge in her eyes. "Nope, not my middle name. You can _Calliope_ me all you want, I can deal with that, but not my middle name. That dies with me."

"Okay then _Calliope_," Arizona smirked playfully. "I believe we have about two minutes before breakfast, so you'd better get ready…" The blonde unzipped the opening to the tent letting in a warm breeze that threatened to lull Callie back to sleep. "I'll save you a seat," she called over her shoulder as she crawled out of the tent, "but I might drink all of the coffee," Arizona shrugged under the death glare Callie was shooting at her. "I can't promise anything, you'd better hurry."

A good ten minutes later Arizona watched with amusement as Callie stumbled sleepily out of the tent and moved toward the table. True to her word, Arizona had saved Callie a seat, the seat next to hers actually, and had also poured the brunette a cup of coffee and set it tantalizingly on the table in front of the empty chair.

"Thanks Arizona," Callie mumbled as she raised the mug to her lips and took a long sip of the brown liquid. Gratefully, Callie felt a rush of energy surge through her body, running through her veins to the tips of her toes. "I needed that."

"Hey Callie, Arizona," Sam wandered over the table filling the last empty chair and nodding to both Callie and Arizona as he took his seat.

"Morning," Arizona greeted him cheerfully as she took a sip of her coffee. Callie merely mumbled a greeting into her cup of coffee before reaching across the table to refill her mug.

The table was silent for a few minutes, with all of the volunteers filling and refilling their plates with an assortment of odd breakfast foods, ranging from Captain Crunch cereal to overcooked bacon. As the food supply diminished, John stood up at the head of the table, signaling for attention.

"We have a schedule for today," he announced, glancing around the assembled, albeit tired volunteers to make sure everyone was listening. "For the first half, we're doing a sort of survival exercise…" Nervous glances were exchanged around the circle and a few tentative jokes were exchanged. "I'll go over that in a minute, but for the second half of the day we will be preparing to transfer camps, taking stock of all of our supplies, preparing the papers and that sort of thing. My two surgeons," he scanned the table quickly, "Robbins, Torres you two will be taking inventory of medical supplies and writing up what else we need to ship down to the clinic we'll be visiting." Arizona nodded intently, while Callie muttered something intelligible under her breath, looking dangerously close to sleep.

"Survival exercises?" A nervous voice inquired from the end of the table and Arizona craned her neck to see the speaker, she really should start trying to learn people's names.

"Yeah," John scratched the back of his head. "Our here, and even when we transfer camps you're going to need to be able to trust your co-workers implicitly, with your life if necessary. I'm not saying that life or death situation will arise, but you need to be able to rely on each other."

Arizona saw a few scattered nods around the table as she listened with mounting excitement.

"So, for today you'll be working with your bunkmates, because they are going to be the people you work most closely with in the next few months. It's a simple activity really, I have a map for each of you and on it is a set of coordinates. It's not really a race, but the first team to reach their coordinates and bring back the object that is hidden at the location wins… something."

"No offense, sir," Josh began from the seat next to Sam. "But isn't this a little juvenile?" Arizona bristled at the comment; there was nothing wrong with _juvenile. _Some of her patients in Chicago probably could survive twice the 'survival exercises' this man could.

"Yep, it may seem a little bit like summer camp to you… but, what you don't realize is that's it a four mile hike to each of your coordinates, and in this heat I doubt many of you will last that long."

Finally Arizona noticed that Callie looked a little bit excited, at least most of the sleep had drained from her expression anyway. Arizona was pleasantly surprised to see that the fear that gripped most of the other volunteers at the mention of a four mile hike wasn't present in Calliope's eyes, no, Arizona saw she looked, competitive.

"So, as soon as you're finished with breakfast, pack lots of water, a compass and whatever you think you're going to need. Also, I'm going to give each of you a radio… just in case." As a group, the volunteers stood up, eagerly conversing with their team members as they headed back toward their tents. "I want you guys to try to get to know each other on this hike, talk, chat… whatever. I'm not saying you have to have a heart to heart, but try to learn a little about each other, they're going to be with you for six months…"

* * *

"Okay," Arizona gazed over the map enthusiastically as Callie peered over shoulder at the crumpled piece of paper. "So, I think were here," Arizona's finger hovered over a spot on the map, "and we need to go here." Her finger traced a path across the map to a highlighted area, a distance that looked _way _too far through Callie's eyes.

"It all looks like gibberish too me," the brunette admitted as Arizona continued her expert scrutiny of the terrain.

"I'll be fun," Arizona exclaimed as she grabbed the compass out of her backpack. "You got everything, water, band aids, radio?" Callie nodded, making a mental checklist of the items she had quickly shoved into her backpack.

"Yep, we're all good," she promised watching with interest as Arizona lined the compass against the grid on the map before raising her eyes from the paper.

"That way, at least for about two miles then we veer left," she pointed out across the plain, before hefting her backpack up onto her shoulders.

"Just like that?" Callie looked doubtful but Arizona flashed her a reassuring grin.

"It's not rocket science Calliope, c'mon…" Arizona strode off, in what Callie thought might have been just a random direction but she followed anyway, slightly comforted by Arizona's perky confidence.

"I think we need a team name," Arizona broke the silence that had settled over their hike for the past few minutes. The camp was already a distant spot on the horizon but the blonde knew they still have over three miles to go and the sun was rising steadily over their heads.

"A team name?" Callie asked in confusion, as she took a quick sip of water. "Huh?"

"Yeah," Arizona gestured vaguely. "Something cool, it'll be motivating."

"Uh huh… We can be Team Exhausted Surgeons," Callie replied teasingly.

"Calliope," Arizona's brow furrowed. "How on earth is that motivating? It should be something more awesome… like…" Arizona paused before a delighted smile curved at the corners of her lips. "Team Awesome!"

"Just promise me you won't ever refer to us as 'Team Awesome' in public?" Callie used air quotes around Arizona's chosen team name, a gesture the blonde rather resented.

"Fine," Arizona pouted as she walked, "that's still our team name right?"

"Possibly," Callie replied with the ghost of a smirk. "So, how do you think we should get to know each other during this… survival exercise?"

She would never admit it, never, but Callie Torres found her new bunkmate to be somewhat of a mystery. Sure, she was perky, almost euphoric in her cheeriness sometimes, but there was something else about her. It was something, Callie couldn't really out her finger on, but it was intriguing to say the least. Plus, Callie wasn't exactly blind; Arizona Robbins was gorgeous.

"Hmm, we could play twenty questions?" Arizona answered, slowing down slightly so her pace matched Callie's. "Want to go first?"

_What was with this women and games? _Callie wondered, but she found herself grinning in response despite the fact she usually would be immensely annoyed by someone this animated working with her at Seattle Grace, but like before, there was something about her.

"Sure," Callie thought for a moment, deciding to steer away from the relationship based questions since that mostly just incited awkwardness. "Hmm… Favorite color?"

"Lime green," Arizona answered and Callie's eyes widened slightly in surprise. To be honest she was expecting something much more… pinkish. "My turn, favorite animal?"

"Skunks," Callie replied quickly, not missing the surprise that flashed through Arizona's eyes as she practically spat out the water she was drinking.

"Skunks?" She spluttered.

Callie nodded, raising an eyebrow, "are saying there's something wrong with skunks?"

"No… well, they do smell kinda bad…"

"Skunks are _awesome," _Callie retorted with a teasing grin.

"Hey! Don't steal my word! Awesome is my word, it has Arizona written all over it. However, it should never used in the same sentence as skunk!" Arizona took a quick sip of water, watching as Callie glanced over at her in amusement. "So, why skunks?"

"Oh, well Mark, and I were on a hike once. Mark's my best friend, and he dragged me out on a hike for fun or whatever," Callie explained quickly and Arizona nodded. "Anyway, he was teasing me about something, I mean I was still pretty pissed at him dragged me out of bed for a hike but…" Callie shrugged. "A skunk sprayed him, right at the beginning of the trail, so I see them as my saviors since they pretty much rescued me from two hours of woodland torture."

Arizona nodded, slightly mystified, "so you like skunks because one of them sprayed your best friend?" Inside, Arizona felt the slightest bit relieved, because after Callie had mentioned a 'Mark' this morning, she had assumed that her new bunkmate was married. She knew she probably had absolutely no shot with the brunette whatsoever, but she liked to think this improved her chances, if just slightly.

Callie laughed, "yeah I guess so. But there's something you need to know about Mark: he is the biggest manwhore ever. It's hard to have a conversation with him without him checking out some girl across the room. So, it was hilarious when he was trying to pick up girls when practically every women in Seattle kept a very safe distance away from him because he reeked of skunk. In a way skunks provided me with a good few days of amusement and endless teasing material."

"I see," Arizona brought her water bottle to her lips once more and took a quick sip before shoving it back into her backpack. "It sounds pretty fun-"

"Arizona!" Callie hissed, and the blonde spun around, alarmed by Callie's tone of voice. "Shut up," she commanded very quietly as Callie reached out to grasp Arizona's arm and pull her back down the trail a few feet.

"Wha-" Arizona complained, perplexed and a little angry, but Callie pointed down the path, where, less than a foot from where Arizona had been about to step was a dusty brown snake, pattered with a few whitish diamonds.

Arizona's eyes widened in shock and she stumbled back a few more feet clutching at Callie's arm for support. The brunette seemed to think this was a good idea and she followed Arizona until they had put a good twenty feet between them and the snake, which was still curled up in the same spot.

_It looks hungry, really hungry, _Arizona thought before she released her grip on Callie's arm and banished the ridiculous thoughts about the snake to the back of her mind.

"Thanks," Arizona mumbled as she stood next to Callie, trying to catch her breath and calm her racing heartbeat. "I mean really," she looked up at the startled brunette, "if you hadn't I would have stepped right on him and… you know, got bitten, and then I would have to go to the hospital, except there is no hospital here and umm… I probably would have died…" Callie brushed a comforting hand up Arizona's arm. "Sorry, I ramble when I'm freaked out," Arizona admitted as an embarrassed blush flooded her cheeks.

"It's okay," Callie replied with a small grin. "I'm just really glad you're okay. Plus, I mean, you're the second half of Team Awesome."

* * *

"We're back!" Callie cried, five hours later as she and Arizona stumbled into camp, exhausted and very dusty. "We made it!"

"Score one for Team Awesome!" Arizona exclaimed, eliciting a glare from Callie. "Okay fine, I'll say it quietly from now on," the blonde muttered as her bunkmate cringed at the mention of their chosen team name.

John walked toward them, waving as he approached. "I'm surprised," he admitted. "The surgeons made it back first, not what I expected."

"Hey," Arizona defended but stopped as Callie gave her a playful shove.

"Frankly Arizona, I didn't expect us to make it home at all. Although I must admit, your very skilled at reading maps…" Callie grinned as Arizona pouted and crossed her arms over her chest.

"I'm just a constant wonder," Arizona replied with a wry smile as she began to unpack her backpack.

John shook his head and wandered off before returning minutes later with a snickers bar.

"Ladies," he held out the snickers bar, "you're prize."

"Cool-"

"Help!" A tall brunette was running towards the camp, waving her arms desperately to get the guide's attention. "You have to come quickly! He fell, there's blood everywhere… just come!" She yelled, gesturing behind her as she came closer.

"What!?" John's eyes widened in horror, as the brunette stopped in front of them, leaning on her knees in her exhaustion.

"Tim, he fell off a rock and he landed off on one of legs… It looks really bad."

Arizona turned toward Callie, "Ortho right?"

"Right." Callie replied, tightlipped as her smile disappeared. "Juvenile survival exercise my ass," Callie muttered under her breath, eliciting a genuine yet frightened smile from the blonde.

* * *

**A/N: So that, was the second chapter. I'm keeping this pretty open lengthwise, maybe a couple more chapters or maybe a lot :D**

**I hope you enjoyed it. Either Tidal Wave or Pictures of You will be updated sometime over the weekend, not really sure which though.**

**Next Chapter=Callie fixing the guy's leg, (maybe :D), they move to their final camp and visit the clinic for the first time. **

**Please, pretty, pretty, please review? **


	3. Hold My Hand, It Helps

**A/N: Sorry for making you guys wait so long! Real life does tend to get in the way of writing sometimes... it's annoying :D**

**Thanks for all of the reviews last chapter, I love, love, love reading them and it's awesome when you guys take the time to comment. So, this chapter is a bit techincal, but I really have no medical knowledge at all, so please forgive me for any errors :D**

**I don't own Callie or Arizona... how sad.**

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* * *

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**New History**

**Chapter Three: Hold My Hand, It Helps**

_You're something beautiful  
A contradiction  
I wanna play the game  
I want the friction  
You will be the death of me  
You will be the death of me  
Bury it  
I won't let you bury it  
I won't let you smother it  
I won't let you murder it  
Our time is running out  
Our time is running out  
You can't push it underground  
You can't stop it screaming out  
I wanted freedom  
Bound and restricted  
I tried to give you up  
But I'm addicted_

-"Time is Running Out" by Muse

* * *

"Where is he?" Callie asked, a grim line replacing the exuberant smile of just a few moments before. Adrenaline was coursing through her body, the same rush of energy that usually accompanied the beeping of her pager or the feel of the smooth metal scalpel resting in her palm at the very beginning of surgery.

"Over there," the brunette woman pointed to the cluster of rocks maybe three hundred feet away from the camp. "I'll show you, hurry please," she begged already setting off in the direction of the rocky outcropping. Arizona and John made a move to follow her but Callie held up a hand,

"Wait, just one second," Callie called after the women who was now peering desperately at the spot where she knew her partner was lying bleeding behind the rocks. Callie, turned toward Arizona and John, "I need you to get me any and all of the medical supplies you brought with you. I don't care if it looks obscure or irreverent, bring everything. Meet me over there as soon as possible," John nodded dashing off toward the bus. "Arizona," Callie continued, "can you quickly find some gauze or material we can use as a compress? Bring whatever, I'm going to have to improvise a brace." With a quick jerk of her head, Arizona quickly darted off toward the tents and the campground.

"Okay, take me to him please." Callie followed quickly behind the woman, walking quickly beside her. As they neared the rocks, the brunette's breathing became shallow and fast, while her body began to tremble. Callie could see worry and fear etched into her expression; it was the expression of a family member waiting in the waiting room. Waiting for news of their loved one, the fear ever present in their eyes.

They had been bunkmates for two days, this woman and the man who was hurt, yet she wore the same expression as the wife who was waiting for her husband to come out of surgery. Callie couldn't help thinking, what if it was Arizona?

"There," she panted as the rounded the corner of the rock pile. "Tim!" She called out, anxiously scrambling over a few smaller boulders as Callie followed with mounting anticipation. "Please be awake, please be okay," she heard the women muttering under her breath; Callie couldn't help but echo her sentiments.

"Karen?" A weak voice drifted over the rocks, and as they clambered over the final boulder, the women let out a choked cry as Callie drew in a sharp breath.

There was blood everywhere.

Callie rushed over to the man lying, on the ground, his foot awkwardly twisted to the side and a large gash revealing a piece of bone open on his lower leg. She remembered him from the dinner table and from the airplane; he had been sitting two seats in front of her. She remembered because he had snored _very_ loudly the entire trip.

"Okay," Callie murmured under her breath, stripping her jacket off and preparing to use it as a compress until Arizona arrived with more material. "Stop the bleeding, set the bone in its correct position, make a brace," she reminded herself quietly, under her breath. It was a simple routine, a procedure she had preformed many times, except she had the aid of an x-ray, pain meds and fiberglass cast materials. This time, not so much. Yet, she still took comfort in the simple routine.

"He's going to be okay right?" Karen knelt down beside Callie, her gaze horrified as she tried to avoid the growing puddle of blood seeping into the ground. "Please tell me he's going to be okay,"

"I'm going to try," Callie replied, gently pressing the cotton material against the man's leg, over the wound. "Tim?" she asked, as a hiss slipped from between his lips at the pressure of the compress.

"Yes," he mumbled his voice hazy from blood loss.

"I'm going to try to help you, but it would really help it you would try to stay with me… " He gave her a weak nod, settling his head back against the dirt as his breath came in short gasps.

"Sure thing," he muttered.

Reaching for her shoes, Callie quickly untied one of the laces and tossed the shoe toward Karen. "Take the lace out," she commanded, as Karen caught the shoe looking very bewildered. The brunette did as she was told, eventually threading the shoelace out of the last hole and handed the shoe back to Callie.

"Not the shoe, the lace. I need the lace," Karen dropped the lace in Callie's outstretched palm looking confused but morbidly interested as she watched. Working quickly, Callie gingerly wrapped the shoelace around Tim's leg, just above the cut. After twining the lace around his leg a few more times Callie tightened the string and tied a quick knot.

"Why-" Tim muttered, as he felt her tighten the sting around the area right above his knee.

"I'm sorry if this hurts, it stops the bleeding," she explained quickly before reapplying pressure to her makeshift compress and praying silently that Arizona and John would hurry up. She repeated the procedure, using the shoelace from her other shoe and wrapping it around the same spot to make sure it was tight enough.

"Calliope?" Arizona anxious voice sounded from just around the pile of rocks, "Where are you?"

"Down here!" Callie yelled in response and a few seconds later Arizona appeared over the boulder followed closely by John who was lugging two big boxes.

"We brought all the medical supplies," Arizona stated before her mouth dropped open at the sight below her. "Oh my god…" She muttered, hurrying her way down the rocks. A similar gasp could be heard as John saw Tim and Callie down below.

"Here," he said quickly, depositing the boxes next to Callie and looking nervous, as if there was something he could do to help but he didn't quite know what it was.

"Arizona, can you look through the boxes?" Callie asked, still applying pressure to her make-shift compress. "See if there's some sort of suture kit, pain meds and gauze wrappings." Arizona rifled through the contents of the boxes, pulling out a few things and setting them on the ground.

"We've got the suture kit, and lots of gauze but… no pain meds." The fear in Arizona's voice was evident, but her hands were steady as she handed over the suture kit and bandages.

"Damn," Callie cursed, the pain meds had been a long shot but it would have made this a heck of a lot easier. "Okay," she turned to Tim. "Tim, I'm going to have to set your bone back into place. It's going to hurt, but I have to do this, okay?"

"Don't tell me when," he clenched his teeth together tightly. "Just do it."

"Here," Arizona scooted over, her shoes stained red by the blood. "Hold my hand, it helps, I promise."

Callie nodded slowly at Arizona as she gently grasped Tim's hand. The brunette took a deep breath; steadying herself she removed the compress and placed both hands on either side of the man's leg. She felt him tense up in anticipation but Callie tightened her grip and shifted her balance slightly so she could twist the bone back into place.

Arizona looked at her worriedly, but with a grim jerk of her head she turned her attention back to Tim's face, tightly clutching his hand.

Callie twisted, aligning the bones as best she could.

A desperate scream ripped from Tim's lungs as the sudden jerk in his leg sent waves of immense pain through his body but he gripped Arizona's hand tightly and bit his lip, silencing the expression of agony. Beside her, Karen had turned around and vomited all of the rocks and John had winced at the crack that had echoed through the area when Callie had set the bone back into place.

"Calliope!" Arizona cried, gesturing frantically at Tim's face. His eyes had rolled back into his head and his body had gone completely limp. "did he lose too much blood or…"

"Tim!" Callie leaned over the man's body, peering desperately into his deadened expression. "Don't do this, stay with me." She spoke loudly at his unresponsive form. There was nothing much she could do without the aid of the machines and tools the OR offered. "Not now, c'mon. You need to wake up," Callie practically begged. "I know it's hard, and I know it hurts more than anything but please… The hard part's over and we can get you to a hospital soon if you just stay with us!"

Slowly the grip on Arizona's hand tightened again and a relieved smile twisted up the corners of Arizona's lips. "He's back," she nodded toward Callie and the tossed over the suture kit with her free hand.

"We need to do this quickly, he's already lost too much blood." Callie mumbled, quickly preparing the needle to suture his leg. "As soon as I suture I need to prepare a brace, otherwise the bone's just going to twist back out of place again." She nodded toward John. "Can you two go find some sticks, preferably not too crooked."

"Right," John offered a hand to Karen who weakly got up and followed him after casting one last terrified look back toward Tim.

Arizona felt the hand clutching hers tense up again as Callie began suturing and she attempted to distract him from the pain.

"Talk to me," Arizona insisted and he gave a confused, albeit exhausted look. His face was extremely pale from blood loss but he managed to raise an eyebrow at Arizona.

"What?"

"Talk to me," Arizona repeated. "Tell me about anything, your life, your job… whatever."

"I'm a geologist," he mumbled weakly. "I work and teach at a college in Indiana."

"Oh? That sounds interesting, what types of things do you study?" Arizona probed, trying to distract him from the needle threading in and out of his skin.

"Rocks." He replied quietly with a tired grin, "lots and lots of rocks."

"All finished," Callie murmured as she began to wrap a thick layer of gauze around the wound.

"You did super," Arizona assured him with a small smile as Callie, began preparing what supplies she was going to need to fashion some sort of brace.

"Here," Karen and John returned with a massive pile of sticks, dropping them on the ground. Their faces bore matching relieved expression as they saw Tim was doing slightly better, at least the gaping leg wound was no longer visible.

With one hand still firmly gripping the leg, Callie reached over and selected a short stick from the pile, aligning it with Tim's lower leg. Carefully, Callie bound the stick to his leg, forcing the appendage straight against the wood. She repeated this with the other side of his leg until she had formed a sort of primitive brace.

"That's it." Callie muttered, "that's all I can do. He needs to get to a hospital immediately. I, or someone, needs to clean the wound and he needs a proper cast." John nodded, and Callie gingerly untied the shoelaces restricting the blood flow from his lower leg

"I can have the camp ready to leave in an hour, we'll make it to the clinic before seven. Can he walk? Or…" Callie shot him a disbelieving glance and he quickly rolled his eyes. "Sorry, I meant should I carry him back to the camp?"

"Yes. Be careful not to jostle his leg at all, it could tear the sutures."

"Right." John carefully wrapped an arm around Tim's shoulders, then gently lifted him off of the group and began making his way up the rocks. Karen shot a grateful glance Callie's direction before hurrying after her partner. "We'll leave in an hour," he reminded Callie and Arizona.

"As soon as we get these supplies put away, we'll head back to camp." Arizona replied, bending down and picking up the remnants of the suture kit as well as a few scattered pieces of gauze.

Callie stood perfectly still, breathing heavily as gazed at the blood-spattered rocks. Suddenly she felt a tentative hand on her arm and jerked her gaze down to Arizona's blue eyes.

"Calliope," Arizona comforted, lightly brushing her hand up Callie's arm. "You were amazing," she promised quietly. She sensed the brunette was nervous, or upset, she could see it in Callie's face. "I mean…"

Callie shook her head, bending down to pick up the last few pieces of bandage and her bloodstained jacket she had used as a compress. "It was too quick, too messy." She replied quietly, more to herself than to Arizona, but the grip on her arm tightened.

"No, Calliope. Sure, it was quick and we're in the middle of nowhere so it had to be a little messy but he would have bled out within minutes if you hadn't set the bone and sutured up his leg. You used a shoelace to slow the bleeding, a shoelace! You were a rock star, and you saved his life." Arizona replied fervently, relived to see a small flicker of recognition flash in Callie's eyes.

"Just… please don't go falling off of any rocks… I don't want to have to do that for you too," a ghost of a teasing smile passed across Callie's lips, sparking a flare of indignation in Arizona's chest. Nonetheless, she was touched.

"Same goes for you."

"You really want to say 'Team Awesome' now don't you?" Callie asked jokingly as she clamped the lid shut of the medical supplies box and settled it under one arm.

Arizona grabbed the other box, "no," she replied, trying to muster an offended response. "I don't." It was a lie, she totally did.

"Don't deny it." Callie smirked as she began scrambling over the rocks, heading back toward camp where she hoped that Tim had made it back in one piece,

"Maybe a little," she admitted, following Callie's path up and over the boulders, balancing the box of supplies against her hip.

* * *

"Are you doing okay?" Callie asked as the bus hit another jolt in the road and Tim winced in pain. As promised John had the entire camp packed up within an hour and they had all boarded the rickety bus, en route to their final camp and hopefully a medical clinic with some orthopedic supplies.

"Yep," he attempted to manage a smile but the shudders passing through his body told Callie a different story.

"You need to try to eat something," she held out a cookie John had given her. She had to explain about fifty times how it was actually medically relevant, and she still had gotten the feeling he thought she was lying because she just wanted to eat a cookie. "Seriously, you lost a lot of blood and you need to get some sugar in you."

Tim grabbed the cookie, taking a small bite as Callie watched him; making sure he chewed and swallowed.

"Happy?" He asked; this time the smile on his face, although weak, seemed genuine.

"You would think, I wouldn't have to force feed people cookies. They're supposed to be yummy." Arizona peered over the edge of her seat, stealthily analyzing Tim's condition while keeping her balance as the bus twisted and jolted up the road.

"How's he doing?"

"Callie, Arizona!" John called over the roar of the engine, "we'll be there in five minutes."

"Awesome!" Arizona shouted back, eliciting an eye roll from Callie, which the blonde chose to ignore.

"Another surgery?" Tim asked. He gripped the sides of the bus seats he had laid down on as the bus went over a rough patch in the road.

"No, at least I don't think so. I just need to make sure the sutures and the cut on your leg are clean, and I need to fit you for an actual cast." She assured him, "the hart part is over."

A few moments later, the bus slowed to halt and John got off quickly, telling both Callie and Tim to stay put.

Out of the window, Callie could see him talking to a man who was dressed as a doctor and another man in green scrubs. John motioned to the bus again, and they nodded quickly, running back inside.

"They say you can bring him in," John explained as he walked to the back of the bus and prepared to carry Tim off of the vehicle. "They're getting a bed ready."

Callie and Arizona walked inside the small clinic, following John who had been directed to put Tim in one of the three beds in what looked to be an ER. It was much smaller that Seattle Grace, in fact Callie wasn't sure if this was the entire clinic or not.

"Hello…" The man who Callie had seen outside of the bus walked up to Callie and Arizona. "I'm Dr. Kopano," he shook both Arizona and Callie's hands as they introduced themselves.

"John has told me that you both are surgeons?"

"Yes sir," Arizona replied. "I'm a pediatric surgeon and Dr. Torres here is an orthopedic surgeon." Kopano nodded,

"We are small clinic, but we could use a lot of help. We do have a small operating room of sorts and some surgical equipment and we could definitely use the help of two surgeons." He explained briefly as Arizona nodded along.

"We're both here to help as much as you need," Callie assured him. "I actually have to go see Tim-"

"Ah, I'm sorry. You came here with the man with the broken leg. I'll let you get back to work. Dr. Robbins if you're not busy maybe I could show you around the clinic?"

Arizona looked briefly at Callie who nodded, "that sounds great. I think both Callie and I we're planning to start working here tomorrow, is that alright?"

"Of course," he gestured around the small clinic. "I'll have some supplies sent to you Dr. Torres, and you both will be coming in tomorrow?"

"Bright and early," Callie promised as she headed off toward the bed where Tim and John were waiting. "I'll meet you back here in a bit Arizona!"

Callie was pleased to find that the medical clinic had a steady supply of both pain meds and cast materials. She carefully removed the make-shift brace from Tim's leg, fitting him with a plaster cast which was much safer for his leg.

After about two hours, Callie deemed that Tim was ready to go back to where they were staying and one of the doctors had given him a pair of crutches to use.

"Thank you very much," Callie shook Dr. Kopano's hand once more before they left.

"It's no trouble, I'm very grateful that you and Dr. Robbins are here to help with the clinic. I'll see you both tomorrow morning."

John gestured to Callie and Arizona, and they followed him out of the clinic to where the rest of the Peace Corp volunteers were waiting. They all seemed relieved to see Tim up on his feet, even though he was using crutches. He looked much better than before and some color had returned to his cheeks.

"Our living arrangements are just down the street," he pointed to a apartment building across the street. Leading the group up to the building, John handed out room keys to every pair and advised them to get a good night sleep since their official work here began in the morning.

"That was a long day," Arizona murmured as she lugged her bag up the stairs.

"Too long," Callie agreed as she jammed the key into the battered lock and pushed the door to their room open. It was sparsely decorated, two beds, a table shoved into the corner and a door off to the side, which, Callie assumed led to the bathroom.

"Home sweet home," Arizona tossed her bag down on the bed, flopping down next to it and closing her eyes in exhaustion.

"I don't even have the energy to unpack," Callie moaned into her pillow.

"We'll unpack tomorrow," Arizona waved her hand in the air, a tired gesture toward their suitcases. "I'm going to steal the bathroom first, you mind?"

"Nope."

* * *

Callie tangled her fingers in blonde curls, Arizona's hands finding their way down to the brunette's waist as she pressed Callie up against the wall. Pulling Arizona closer and tighter against her body, their lips met in a bruising kiss that left both women breathless. Callie pulled away for an instant, blue eyes meeting brown, before Arizona leaned in and continued the kiss.

Against her lips, Callie heard Arizona moan and the blonde's hands slipped slowly lower…

Callie jerked awake, her eyes flying open as she breathed heavily. Looking wildly around the room, Callie saw Arizona sound asleep and snoring quietly in her bed a few feet away.

_What the… _As Callie's confused thoughts began to order themselves, her dream came back to her. Flipping over Callie groaned into the fabric of the pillow. _It was a dream. You're having… dreams about your bunkmate Callie, way to go. Not just any dreams, like, THOSE kinds of dreams…_

_Crap.

* * *

_

**A/N: So, how did you like it?**

**Next chapter is Callie and Arizona's first day working at the clinic plus more activities with some of the other volunteers (I haven't planned it out completely yet)**

**Reviews are loved :D**


	4. This Feeling Won't Go

**A/N: Okay, so since I made you guys wait so long for the last one, here is another update... I guess it's kind of fast :D I'm going to be busy all week, so I might not be able to update any of my stories for the next week... but I wanted to finish this. **

**Once again, huge thanks to everyone who reviewed, they make me smile =)**

**Is this story going to follow AZ/Callie, IF (that's a big IF) Arizona decides to take the job at Seattle Grace? I have a few chapter ideas for once both of them finish up their time in the Peace Corp, but probably only for a few chapters... probably like 2 or 3. It's going to mostly focus on their time in the Peace Corp.**

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**New History**

**Chapter Four: This Feeling Won't Go**

Wait for something better  
No one behind you  
Watching your shadows  
You gotta be stronger than the story  
Don't let it blind you  
Rivers of shadow  
This feeling wont go

_And the sky is full of dreams  
But you don't know how to fly  
I don't have a simple answer  
But I know that I could answer  
There's something better_

-"This is Your Life" by The Killers

**(Callie's POV)**

_Dreams. What are they really? Maybe they're our subconscious, trying to tell us something. Or maybe they're expression of some desire we've chosen to repress. A jumbled of version of days, weeks, and sometimes even years of our lives, presented back to us, in full Technicolor and dizzying surround sound when we drift off to sleep. They're twisted; frightening sometimes; other times, they can be wonderful._

_Analyzing your dreams, now that's a landmine you really don't want to stumble into. _

_Because, who are we kidding? Dreams? They don't mean __ANYTHING__._

_

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**(Neither POV)**

Callie shifted under the covers, squeezing her eyes tightly shut to prevent the sunlight from disturbing her last delicious moments of sleep. Reluctantly, with the aid of the strident buzzing from an alarm clock she didn't remember setting the night before, she dragged her eyes open, stifling a yawn as she slowly sat up in bed.

She didn't remember right away, her first few thoughts centered on her first day at the clinic, familiar excitement flooding through her body at the prospect of practicing medicine again. However as the hazy touch of sleep receded from her mind, clarity returned, bringing back an onslaught of vivid scenes from her dream.

A blush instantly flooded Callie's face, and she banished the images to the back of her mind, flinging her arm out haphazardly to turn off the heinous alarm clock that was still blaring in the background. Taking a deep breath in an attempt to calm herself; Callie quickly scanned the room. Arizona was gone, the sheets on her bed had been haphazardly thrown back into place but a small sticky note adorned with curly penmanship was stuck to the side of the alarm clock.

_Calliope, I set this alarm in case you we're still asleep before I got back. You sleep like a rock, you know that?_

_I went out to grab some coffee and maybe some breakfast, I'll be back by 7:30. _

_-AZ, (Member of Team Awesome)_

A small smile tugged at Callie's lips despite her anxiety and she stuck the note back onto the side of the alarm clock, noticing that is was in fact, almost 7:30. An odd sense of panic flooded through Callie's body at the idea of seeing her bunkmate. In general, she was a very easy person to read, she wore her emotions blatantly across her face, a trait she sometimes found annoying but she really had no control over it. So, she really, _really _didn't want to be reduced to a stammering, nervous fool around her bunkmate. Not on their first day.

It was _just _a dream; that was all. She had been exhausted and her brain was making all sorts of weird connections. Really nothing to be freaked about. Right? No, she wasn't falling for her bunkmate, that would be... crazy.

"Calliope!" Arizona exclaimed brightly, she was balancing two coffee cups and a small box on one arm as she deftly shut the door behind her. "You're awake, great! I thought I was going to have to get a foghorn or something…"

"No," Callie mumbled, she had jumped slightly at the blonde's arrival and she could already feel an embarrassed blush spreading across her face. "Your alarm clock was enough, thanks." Avoiding Arizona's blue-eyed gaze Callie tried desperately to act normal, failing miserably.

However irrational it was, Callie was almost afraid that Arizona would somehow... know... She would know what she had dream about, Callie hoped desperately her thoughts weren't that transparent.

"Good," Arizona nodded emphatically, setting one of the coffee cups and the box down on the small table while handing the other one over to Callie. The brunette winced as her fingers brushed against Arizona's when she handed her the cup and the blonde shot her an odd look.

"Thanks," Callie repeated, "for the coffee I mean…" She exhaled nervously; keeping her thoughts completely focused in the present and not allowing them to slip back into dreamland where they seemed to be heading an awful lot. "What time do we have to be at the clinic?"

"No specific time," Arizona gestured vaguely at the clock before bringing the steaming cup of coffee to her lips and taking a long sip. "I was thinking of heading over around 8:30. I think John and the rest of the group are heading out to a different area of the city today," her brow furrowed, "I don't really remember where though… Either way, he said to just head over there sometime soon."

"Okay…" Callie took an abnormally long, noisy gulp of her coffee to cover up the awkward lull in conversation. "That sounds… good." Arizona agreed with an affirmative jerk of her head while she tossed her empty coffee cup into the trash, opening the box and taking out two pastry like things.

"Want one?" She asked, holding one of the mysterious treats out to Callie excitedly.

"What… is it?" Callie asked cautiously, as she took the food from Arizona, being VERY careful not to let their fingers touch.

"I have absolutely no idea," Arizona exclaimed, oblivious to Callie's efforts at avoiding physical contact. "I saw it at this tiny coffee stand I found down the street and I was hungry… So I figured, why not?" She shrugged, eyeing Callie suspiciously before taking a bite of her pastry and closing her eyes in delight. "Wow. That's good, c'mon Calliope you have to admit that is one good breakfast."

"Yep," the brunette agreed, taking a small bite of the food but not really tasting it.

Callie had decided to use short sentences to reduce her nervous babbling tendencies to a minimum until she could safely put the dream out of her mind. She had an annoying propensity for verbal vomit that seemed to cause more harm than it ever did good. So, short phrases. Yep. One word if possible.

"Yep?" Arizona raised an eyebrow, a playful smile on her face. "C'mon, it has to rank in one the top ten best things you've ever tasted…"

"I um… I have to go," Callie stuttered abruptly, avoiding Arizona's teasing gaze and downing her coffee in one last sip. "Thanks for the breakfast." She tried to head out of the door quickly, jamming her arms through the sleeves of her coat despite the relentless heat she already felt seeping into the small room.

"Calliope are you okay?" Arizona asked, unable to ignore the odd way Callie had been acting for the past ten minutes. She reached out an arm to touch Callie's shoulder but the brunette backed away forcing a smile over her nervous expression.

"I'm fine, really… I just remembered… I just have to get something… from the uhh… store…" _Smooth Callie, very, very smooth… You don't sound like a stuttering idiot, no way…_ Callie silently reprimanded herself.

"Oh?" Arizona asked feigning innocence, "which store?"

"You know… " Callie wracked her brains trying to remember the names of any of the stores she had passed on her way to their room the night before. "The one… next to the clinic… I _really_ need to go there."

"That's a shoe store," Arizona replied with amusement.

"Yep," Callie mumbled her face reddening even more if that was possible. "You know me, I love the… uhm… shoes…" Quickly Callie attempted to make her escape. "See you at the clinic." She finished hurriedly, closing the door abruptly behind her.

"Bye," Arizona murmured in confusion at the door slammed shut. _That was… weird. Adorable in a way, but still weird. I hope nothing's wrong, _Arizona resolved to try to talk to Callie when she saw her bunkmate in the clinic in about half an hour.

Callie walked, nowhere in particular, taking a very roundabout way to the clinic. _It was a __dream. __They don't mean anything,_ Callie assured herself over and over again until the phrase was monotonous in her mind. She jammed her fists into her pockets, arriving at the clinic doors fifteen minutes early but with a sigh and small shake of her head that was meant to the clear her thoughts, Callie walked inside, eager to let the rhythm of work drown out her confusion.

* * *

"Did you find your shoes?" Arizona asked cheerily as she bounced into the clinic a few minutes later, flashing Callie a dimpled smile.

"Oh…" Callie stumbled, her grip tightening on the chart she was holding. "They… didn't have my size…" Arizona nodded fully aware this was another excuse before turning to face Callie and gazing at her with concern.

"Are you okay?" She asked quietly, "I don't meant to pry… but you've been acting sort of… strange since this morning, I mean… did I do something? Did something happen? I mean, you were asleep when I left but…"

Callie shook her head, doing her best to smile, "I'm fine Arizona. Sorry about this morning, I was just nervous about… stuff…" She finished lamely, watching as compassion and a tinge of suspicion flitted though Arizona's blue eyes.

"You sure?" She asked, and Callie nodded, avoiding Arizona's gaze but doing her best to smile reassuringly.

"Doctors!" Dr. Kopano walked over them, offering a warm smile. "I'm glad you're here."

"We're here to help, whatever you need us to do." Arizona assured him, keeping an eye on Callie, but the brunette seemed fine. A little flustered perhaps, but fine.

"Well, today we don't have a long standing cases but often a lot of the local people will come in with injuries that we do our best to treat." Callie nodded along with his words, "Oh, Dr. Torres. You haven't had the official tour yet," he laughed and gestured around the small clinic. "I'll show you around quickly before people start arriving."

"That would be great, thanks." Arizona followed the both of them, tuning out the words she had already heard from her version of the tour yesterday. Instead, she chose to attempt to figure out what was bothering Callie.

"Here is the supply room," he gestured into a small closet like space off from the main room. "Most of the equipment we use daily is in here." Walking down the hall, he pointed to another door before opening it and ushering both doctors in. "This is our operating room, as you can se we are a bit… underfunded."

Callie glanced around the small space, a bed stood in the center of the room and a few shelves of medical equipment lined the walls but compared to the ORs in Seattle this was pretty bare. She had expected it, but really, surgery was going to be _very _different without the aid of the thousand plus dollar machines she normally used.

"Let me introduce you both to the rest of the staff," he led them out of the OR and back toward the main area where a man was sitting at the desk, wearing green scrubs and another, shorter man was fiddling with a contraption by one of the three beds in the ER.

"Peter, Issac," he called and both men looked up, curiously studying the two doctors. Both of the men walked over to Kopano, "This is Dr. Torres and Dr. Robbins, they are surgeons here to help with the clinic for a few months. Doctors, this is Peter, he is our resident nurse," he gestured toward the taller of the two men who stuck his hand out and shook both Callie's and Arizona's hands. "And this is Issac, he is a resident of sorts…" The other man nodded, smiling slightly but not offering his hand.

"It's nice you meet you both, we'll try not to be in your way," Arizona replied and Callie echoed her statements.

"Issac, can you find them both some scrubs? People will start arriving soon." Issac nodded, hurrying off to the supply cabinet while Peter nodded once at the two surgeons and returned to the desk.

"Here you go," he returned with two sets of bright green scrubs and pointed to a door off to the other side of the clinic. "You can change over there, okay?"

"Thanks," Callie replied taking the scrubs and handing the other pair to Arizona while walking over to the small bathroom. Opening the door she stopped short, there was only one room. "You want to go first or should I-"

"Calliope, this isn't third grade summer camp… not that I'm hating on summer camp, but we can both just change," Callie still looked reluctant, her dream still present in her mind. Arizona sighed, "I'm not going to peek, it's like the locker rooms at the hospital."

Callie nodded, swallowing loudly and clutching the scrubs close to her chest. _Just… quickly, change… super quickly. _She instructed herself silently. Quickly yanking off her pants and shirt, Callie managed to get herself into her scrubs in record time. Keeping her gaze fixed on the opposite wall as Arizona changed, she waited until Arizona had pulled her scrub top over her head before yanking the door open and walking out.

She headed over to the desk, standing awkwardly next to it while waiting for something to happen. Patients to come running in or… something… Peter seemed to sense her anxiety,

"People usually start arriving around 9:30," he clarified, and Callie nodded her thanks. "They'll be here soon."

"Thanks," she murmured, her heart rate speeding up exponentially as Arizona walked over, looking slightly annoyed.

"Calliope," she said shortly, nodding and coming to stand next to the brunette who was staring straight ahead.

Quickly one of the doors banged open and a tall man rushing in carrying a screaming boy in his arms. Issac rushed toward them, followed by Callie and Arizona. He asked the man something in a language Callie didn't understand and the man shook his head, pointing to the boy's arm.

Arizona moved foreword to look at the boy's arm but the man moved back, glaring at her with distrust and holding what Callie assumed to be his son close to his chest. Issac quickly murmured something to the man in that language and his expression softened.

"You're… doctors?" He asked in heavily accented English.

"Yes sir," Arizona replied.

"He fell… out of… umm…" He mumbled something Issac who translated.

"He fell out of a tree, onto his wrist," he explained. Arizona looking questioningly up at the man who nodded before she walked foreword and examined the little boy's wrist.

"Can you put him here?" Arizona asked, pointing to the bed and the man nervously complied, putting the young boy onto the bed. The blonde turned toward Callie, "I think it's a simple fracture, can you set it?"

"Sure," Callie knelt down next to the little boy and looked over his wrist for a moment before standing up again and walking over to the supply closet and grabbing a few supplies.

Another man stumbled through the door and Arizona looked nervously at Callie who nodded, "I've got it here, go." Arizona hurried off, toward the other man while Callie knelt down in front of the little boy.

"I'm going to fit him with a cast," She explained holding up the plaster and gauze wrapped. When the man looked confused she mimed wrapped the gauzed around her wrist and he nodded, comprehension dawning in his eyes. "Okay," she looked up at the boy who had tears streaming down his face. "It's going to hurt but only for a second okay?"

Even though he probably couldn't understand her, the little boy nodded, squeezing his eyes shut. He let out a short whimper as Callie gently set his bone back into place but he brightened slightly as she held up two different colors of cast materials, one green, the other blue. He pointed immediately to the blue wrapping and Callie smiled before, dipping the strips of wrapping into a bowl of water, gently casing his wrist with the material, then waiting for it to settle.

After about half an hour the cast was hard enough and the boy had stopped crying. Instead, he was chatting happily with Callie even though she had no idea what he was saying.

"Issac," Callie walked over to the resident who was standing next to Arizona's patient. "Can you tell the boy's father that he shouldn't get the cast wet, and if he comes back in four weeks I can take it off?"

"Sure," he walked over to the man, explaining what Callie had said and the father looking over at Callie, smiled and nodded.

"Thank you," he mumbled, a grateful expression crossing his face before he picked up his son and carried him out of the clinic. Over his should the little boy smiled at Callie and waved with his cast-free hand, she returned his grin and waved back before waiting for the next patient to come in.

* * *

Callie and Arizona walked back to their room at around nine o'clock at night, planning on checking in with John and the rest of the volunteers after they had dropped off some of their stuff.

"Calliope." Arizona began and Callie stopped short, just in front of the door to their room. "What did I do? You start acting all weird every time I come near you and you ran off to a shoe store at eight in the morning to avoid me… I mean really, a _shoe store_?"

"In my defense, I didn't actually go _in _to the shoe store," Callie replied a small smile appearing on her lips and for the first time that it wasn't tinged with nerves. Well, it was, but she had gotten slightly better at hiding them.

Arizona snorted, crossing her arms and glaring suspiciously at Callie for a few moments.

"I just had a weird dream… It threw me off a bit today, sorry for acting strange…" It wasn't really a lie; it just wasn't the entire truth. Immediately, a blush appeared on Callie cheeks at the mention of the dream but she quickly stifled the images pouring into her brain.

"Oh," Arizona could empathize with that; understand it even. "I'm sorry… We're okay right?" She asked cautiously, confused by the anxiety she saw in Callie's eyes.

"Yeah… totally…" Callie answered and a relieved smile crossed Arizona's face,

"Great," she grinned, a gesture that Callie weakly returned. "Want to go see John now?"

"Sure."

* * *

**(Callie's POV)**

_If dreams were twisted depictions of our daily lives, desires and fears let loose in our brains, then why was I dreaming about Arizona Robbins?_

_Maybe dreams do mean something… Something we can't admit to ourselves, something we wish for, but we know will never happen._

_Who was I kidding? Dreams, they mean __EVERYTHING__._

_Now, I just have to forget mine._

_

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_

**A/N: Next update is Pictures of You, probably sometime late in the week, like thursday. But i'll be able to update this story fairly often soon. **

**So... did you like this chapter? :D**

**Reviews are awesome, almost as awesome as Team Awesome...**


	5. The Rainbow Germ

**A/N: Okay... So... this story is addicting, I have a chapter planned out for Pictures of You and one for Tidal Wave but I really, REALLY wanted to write this so... here it is. Also, you can thank JCapzona for her ultimatums, :D**

**Wow, so thanks you guys for all of the awesome reviews last chapter, I hope you guys like this chapter :D**

**I don't own Calzona... awwwww :D**

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**New History**

**Chapter Five: The Rainbow Germ**

_There's a lot that I don't know_  
_There's a lot that I'm still learning_  
_But I think I'm letting go_  
_To find my body is still burning_

_And you hold me down_  
_And you got me living in the past_  
_Come on and pick me up_  
_Somebody clear the wreckage from the blast_

_And I'm alive_  
_And I don't need a witness_  
_To know that I survived_  
_I'm not looking for forgiveness_  
_I just need light_  
_I need light in the dark as I search for the resolution_

_-'The Resolution' by Jack's Mannequin _

**(Arizona's POV)**

You don't notice as you grow up. You wake up on your sixteenth birthday feeling exactly the same as you did when you were fifteen, the same as on every birthday, every morning. Even on the days that our supposed to be milestones in our lives, picture perfect Kodak moments, you don't notice the change happening. Except one day you look into the mirror and you don't see a toddler clutching an Anatomy Jane doll, no, you see an adult staring back at you. We grow, we leave home, and eventually we have to make our own choices.

All by ourselves, we miscalculate, we make snap judgments, and we hurt people.

It's just… Once you grow up, you have to fix those missteps and lapses in judgment on your own. You can't run to the grade school teachers, your nanny or your doting parents for help.

Nope. You've made your own mess, and you have to clean it up.

* * *

**(Neither POV)**

_Arizona's hands tightly gripped Callie's waist, shoving the brunette against the wall and crashing their lips together as—_

Callie awoke with a gasp, her eyes flying open as the first dim rays of sunlight filtered through the small window on the far wall. Sitting rigidly upright in her bed, Callie ran an exhausted hand through her hair, dragging her fingers through her messy curls before she slowly untangled herself from the sheets.

Resting her head against the wall, an exhausted sigh escaped Callie's lips as her eyes quickly scanned the room, making sure Arizona was still asleep. The alarm clock on the table displayed, 6:15 am. Arizona was still soundly asleep; snoring softly into the mass of blankets she had cocooned herself in. Only Arizona's messy mop of blonde curls was visible out of the pile of bed sheets she had accumulated during the night and if she couldn't hear the snoring, Callie would worry that the blonde wasn't actually breathing.

That was the third dream this week.

These things didn't really bother her, normally. She could forget them; dismiss them as ridiculous fantasies conjured up by her exhausted brain. Sure, Callie thought Arizona was gorgeous, but she wasn't going to act on it. Nope, not the middle of Africa. But, she couldn't get Arizona out of her head. Every time the blonde looked at her, smiled at her, or simply walked near her, Callie's heart rate would speed up and she seemed to lose the ability to form words. She was either completely mute, or rambling on nervously until she caught herself and shut up.

So. Not. Cool. She was badass. This kind of thing should not happen to Callie Torres. Nope, it really shouldn't… but it did.

So, in order to preserve some of her dignity, and to avoid turning into a rambling, blushing wreck, she had taken to avoiding Arizona. Leaving early, keeping their conversations short, and declining any invitation to spend time with the blonde that wasn't absolutely necessary. It was crazy, Callie knew that, but she had left Seattle to avoid this kind of thing, at least for a while.

Sighing, Callie sleepily tugged on a pair of pants and threaded her arms through the sleeves of her jacket. Quickly, Callie cast one last longing glance at Arizona's sleeping form and made her escape out of the door.

_You're insane, completely insane. _Callie thought as she walked out of the housing complex, letting the first rays of sun warm her skin.

This kind of thing just shouldn't affect her this much. Callie knew that, she knew that there must be some better way of dealing with it than treating her bunkmate like a pariah but if there was one, she couldn't find it.

It wasn't that she didn't… _enjoy_ the dreams, but they made being in a close proximity to her roommate very… difficult. Callie's tendency toward verbal vomit and over sharing didn't exactly help, but Arizona Robbins seemed to posses the unique gift to turn Callie completely and utterly mute.

_This is going to be a looooong six months, _Callie thought numbly, resigning herself to the fact she was either going to have to get over herself and her insane dreams or learn to speak to her bunkmate without blushing like an idiot. _You're doomed._

_

* * *

_

Arizona awoke slowly, snuggling deeper into her blanket fortress for a few moments before yawning and reluctantly opening her eyes.

"Calliope," she mumbled, stretching and turning toward where her bunkmate should still be soundly asleep. "We have to get up, " she rolled over to face the clock, groaning when she saw that she had to be down at the clinic in half an hour. "Calliope?"

Arizona, confused by the lack of response finally noticed that her bunkmate's bed was absent. "Of course," the blonde muttered under her breath, anger making its way into her tone and movements.

Callie had been avoiding her all week, and frankly it was becoming annoying. Every morning this week, Arizona had woken up to find Callie gone, and every time she tried to talk to the brunette at the clinic, Callie seemed distant and would only utter a few rods before making some lame excuse and rushing off.

They were supposed to _rely_ on each other. Sure, maybe they weren't going to turn into life long friends or anything but Arizona was sure the term 'bunkmate' constituted more than a few mumbled, awkward conversations.

But what was really aggravating Arizona was: she couldn't figure out what had changed. Callie had been fine when they were sharing a tent in the other camp just a week ago. They had talked, laughed, joked and preformed risky surgery in the middle of nowhere together. What had changed, had she done something?

With sharp, annoyed movements, Arizona changed out of her pajamas, pulling on a light t-shirt and pants before grabbing her backpack and heading toward the door. Suddenly she stopped in her tracks, her hand on the doorknob, her gaze straying frantically around the room.

Callie had been avoiding her, wouldn't make eye contact with her and seemed to freak out every time Arizona walked close to her... She had seen this reaction before, she remembered the same hurt. This was the reaction she had gotten when some of her, less close, friends had found out she was gay...

Of course.

To Arizona, everything seemed to remarkably fall into place, taking her by surprise and terrifying her at the same time. Callie must have found out. Her bunkmate had found out she was gay and was… avoiding her. Arizona wasn't usually a particularly temperamental person, but she felt a tinge of anger broil in her stomach. This was why? This was why the brunette had been acting to off lately? This?!

It was this kind of blind prejudice that irritated her. When people decided that they couldn't be around her anymore, talk to her, even touch her because of who she chose to love. _That _annoyed her, and now apparently her roommate was one of them. Not what she had been expecting. Not at all, especially not from Calliope. Somehow Callie hadn't struck her as the type of person who would treat her like that, but it was really the only explanation for the situation.

_How on earth am I supposed to deal with this? _Arizona wondered, her hand still clutching the doorknob as she leaned against the door, calming herself. _Do I talk to her? Or… gosh I have no idea… How did she find out anyway? Did I say something, oh god was I drunk and did I say… things? Wait… I don't remember getting drunk… I would definitely remember getting drunk… or I would remember the hangover…. wouldn't I? _The blonde shook her head, loosing a few strands of hair from her hasty ponytail as she cleared her thoughts. _Stop it_. She scolded herself, firmly squashing her nerves. _I'll just talk to her; maybe I can make her stop acting so weird. _

With a decisive jerk of her head, Arizona turned the handle and rushed out of the door, down the street, to the clinic.

As she breathlessly arrived at the clinic, barely on time, Arizona noticed Calliope standing outside, facing the opposite direction and looking blankly off across the street.

Callie turned abruptly as Arizona passed. "Callie," Arizona greeted her bluntly, continuing without another word into the clinic, accusation flashing in her blue eyes and a detached sound weaving through her tone.

_That was weird,_ Callie wondered following Arizona inside, usually the blonde was more... upbeat in the mornings. _I wonder what's wrong with her._

_

* * *

_

Hours later, Callie turned the page in her book, trying desperately to focus on the maze of words in front of her as her thoughts strayed back to Arizona. Her shift at the clinic had ended but Arizona had wanted to stay a bit extra to finish up with one patient. That had been over an hour ago though, so she was due back any minute.

Frustrated, Callie turned the page again, unable to recall the plot, the names of the characters or the setting of the novel she had been reading for the past hour. No, a certain blonde had occupied her thoughts, making concentration impossible.

"Hey," Arizona mumbled tiredly. Her backpack dropped onto the floor with a disgruntled thud as she closed the door behind her and flopped down on her bed. "That was a long day," she ran her fingers a few times through her messy curls, trying to tame them back into her ponytail.

"Yeah," Callie agreed, her eyes straying to Arizona in the bed across from hers. She couldn't help but notice the shade of Arizona's blue eyes, the adorable disarray of her blonde hair—_Stop. Just Stop. Focus on anything... the book…. Or the wall… just NOT her, not THAT. _Callie commanded herself, averting her gaze from the slumped figure next to her.

"You want to go get some dinner? I think there's still something open down the street, I'm starved…" Callie nodded slightly, almost agreeing but she flinched back at the last second and shook her head.

"Um… nah… I already ate, you go though…." She mumbled; surprised by the anger that flashed in Arizona's eyes. She wanted to go, but her nerves prevented it.

Arizona slowly stood up, grabbing her jacket from where she had tossed it onto the floor. "You know Callie, if I disgust you so much, you should find another bunkmate." She muttered, just loud enough for Callie to hear.

She hadn't meant to blurt it out like that, but it had been an exhausting day and she really needed some distraction. What she didn't need was a woman who obviously couldn't stand to be within a foot of her, so something had snapped inside of her.

Callie's eyes widened, and her book slipped from her fingers, dropping forgotten onto the bedspread.

"Arizona… what… What? I have no idea what you're-"

"Don't Callie," Arizona replied, raising a hand in an exhausted gesture and using the brunette's nickname vindictively. As far as she was concerned, Callie wasn't _Calliope _anymore... At least not right now.

"What-" A confused frown appeared over Callie's nervous grin but Arizona interrupted again.

"You've been avoiding me all week! Every time I come near you, I see you flinch away…. Like… Like I'm contagious or something… It's not an illness, I'm not going to infect you with the rainbow germ Callie!" She exclaimed, words tumbling out of her mouth, sounding a lot more incensed than she had intended.

"The rainbow germ? Ariz-" Callie's face twisted in confusion as she gazed up at Arizona, utterly perplexed.

"I know. You don't have to pretend you don't know I'm gay Callie… What are you afraid of? That I was going to… hit on you or something? I would _never _do that… I mean, you're hot and everything, really hot…" Arizona gulped, mentally scolding herself for getting off track and probably freaking Callie out more. "But I mean… I would never do that… and I'm hurt you think so little of me, I mean you won't even come near me!" Arizona stopped, taking a deep breath and continuing. "I just… I can control myself, and frankly I'm surprised that you would act that this… It seems I misjudged you, Callie…." She finished, running out of breath and glaring at the stunned brunette. Crossing her arms across her chest, she waited for Callie's defense to come… but there was none.

"Wait, you're gay? Like… _gay, _gay?" Callie stumbled, her eyes wide as she peered up at Arizona.

"Of course! And if you can't accept that then I think I should find a new place to sleep... or you should…. Or something… because if you can't even stand to eat a simple dinner with me then I don't really think this whole 'bunkmate' thing is going to work… Geez! It's not like I'm going to… jump you or something… I don't know what your problem is Callie, but I think it's… sickening when people can't accept that women can love women!"

"I honestly didn't know Arizona-"

"Don't lie… I get it… it's weird for you or whatever… but I promise, it doesn't have to be like that… I like being your friend Callie. I mean, I like you a lot less right now since you seem to think I'm repellant… but really, you don't have to be awkward around me…"

"You're not listening to me Arizona," Callie began getting up from the bed and walking toward Arizona, stopped a few feet in front of the fuming blonde.

"No Callie! You're not listening to me-" The blonde began, ready to start another long, jumbled rant about why Callie shouldn't avoid her, or be freaked out.

"Arizona! Would just shut up for one second!" Callie demanded, her voice rising as the blonde continued to glare accusingly at her. "You have given me a very long, speech about how disgusting I am for not being okay with the fact your are gay… Frankly it really doesn't matter me, those kinds of things don't matter. And for the record, I DIDN'T know that before you just told me... So now that you have officially decided I need to move out and called me 'sickening' among other things, I think I should get a chance to talk…" Callie looked up at Arizona whose mouth was hanging open and whose cheeks were rapidly turning a bright red.

"Oh… crap… Callie I didn't mean it like that I swear I thought that was why you were acting all strange… I can't believe I went all… lesbian rampage on you… oh my gosh… I just thought… I'm so sorry…" The ghost of a sheepish grin appeared on Arizona's lips, as she rambled.

"Look. Like I said before, I've just been a little bit on-edge over the past week… I'm sorry for taking it out on you, but really… I promise it has nothing to do with the fact you're gay." Callie stopped and hesitantly reached up gently to brush a few stray hairs away from Arizona's cheek. Arizona bit her lip, looking curiously up at Callie. She was comforted by the simple touch. "Look, I can touch you," Callie explained as she laughed, "I promise I don't find you repellant… at all."

"Then what is it Calliope?" Arizona asked as Callie's hand dropped back to her side, leaving Arizona longing for her touch. "Just tell me… I don't like you avoiding me and barely speaking to me… It's hard enough here where I don't know anyone but other volunteers, but I mean… We're Team Awesome…" She attempted a joke but it feel flat, only causing Callie to look more uncomfortable.

"I can't Arizona, I'm sorry…" Callie backed away a few inches, looking guiltily down at the floor and avoiding Arizona's perceptive gaze.

"So… it's just going to be you acting all weird around me for the rest of the six months, seriously? I don't mean to pry, normally I would just leave you alone to figure things out but… I'm worried, and a teensy bit hurt."

"It's not something I can talk about." Callie finished, the color rising in her cheeks and Arizona's eyes once betrayed her exasperation.

"We're bunkmates… partners in crime, and I DON'T mean 'partners' in a gay way… if that's what you thought..." Arizona stuttered, furious at herself for her choice of words. "You can't avoid me Callie, we have to figure this out, or I can switch rooms with another one of the volunteers. What's up? Did something happen at the clinic?" Arizona asked; her voice filled with compassion as she took a nervous step toward Callie, aching to comfort the brunette.

"No, you don't have to do that… it's just," Callie sighed, frustrated with herself and her inability to form coherent sentences.

This was what Callie did. Time and time again she ran from her problems… And that was what she was doing now.

"What? So we're going to be roommates, and work side by side in complete silence?" The blonde demanded, hurt flooding her voice. "Am I going to have to learn sign-language just to ask you for a consult, or is coming within speaking distance of you forbidden? How am I supposed to work with you… if you won't just talk to me-" Arizona sighed, looked pleadingly up at Callie. "I don't want to force anything out of you, but we need to work together here Callie. We have a chance to help, to do something awesome here, but I need you to talk to me!"

"Arizona!" Callie burst out, silencing the beginning of another rant. "Maybe…. maybe you're not the only one who's gay… There… okay?" Callie pressed her lips together, immediately regretting her confession.

Arizona's eyes widened, her mouth dropped open… speechless.

"Just forget it, I'm sorry…" Callie muttered as she saw the look on Arizona's face. "Maybe I should find another place to sleep." Callie replied, looking mortified as grabbed her bag and her coat and dashed out of the room, leaving the door open as she ran down the stairs.

Arizona stood still for a moment, wrapping her mind around the brunette's confession. _What did she mean? Woah…Calliope's gay? She's GAY? I didn't see that coming… wait… crap… she ran off…. Then why was she avoiding me? Wait._

A gasp tore from Arizona's lips as realization hit her full force.

_Oh no, and I didn't say anything… I just stood there like an idiot… crap, crap, crap, SUPER crap!_

"Calliope!" Arizona called down the stairs, grabbing her coat and hurriedly making her way down the stairs.

No answer.

* * *

**(Arizona's POV)**

Sometimes we misjudge people, make the wrong call about who we THINK they are. But you have to fix it by yourself.

Just hope there's something left to fix.

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**A/N: So... did you like it?**

**Both Tidal Wave and Pictures of You will be updated sometime soon. I have a bit of a break soon so i'll have some time to write. **

**Please Review, I was kind of worried about this chapter :/ Tell me what you thought =D**


	6. You Make Me Insane Part One

**A/N: So… at the end of the last chapter of 'Pictures of You' I asked which update you guys what you wanted next, and you chose New History… It was close, but New History won.**

**SUPER, MEGA thanks for all the reviews last chapter... seriously, you guys are all completley awesome and I hope you like this update :D**

**NOTE: Okay, so instead of putting the lyrics at the beginning, they are interspersed throughout the chapter. I think this song probably fits this chapter better than any of the others so far. It's 'Say When' by the Fray. The lyrics are slightly out of order BTW. **

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**New History**

**Chapter Six: You Make Me Insane [Part One]**

**-**

**You still haven't spoken, what happened  
They're coming back and you just dont know when  
You want to cry but there's nothing comin'  
They're gonna push until you give in, say when**

Arizona hurriedly wrenched the door open, banging it against the wall in her haste as she dashed out into the hall. She paused for a moment outside of their room, the door still wide open as she contemplated the two choices before her. Down the stairs, or up? Down, that seemed more logical; Arizona decided, shutting the door behind her and making her way toward the staircase at a dangerously fast pace.

_Why? _Arizona berated herself as she took the stairs two at a time. _Why did I have to just stand there? I mean, make eye contact, mumble something… gesture…geez do something! After someone says something like that? __Really,_ _really bad time to stare like her like a brain dead Barbie doll… _Arizona continued her mad dash, not looking where she was going as she ran across the third floor landing. _Please, please, please let her be waiting somewhere obvious… like a bench… that would be convenient… are there any benches nearby? If I were Calliope, looking for a bench, where would I go? Wait. What if she's not on a bench… __STOP__… just stop thinking, god this women makes me crazy. _

Suddenly Arizona slammed into something hard, something distinctly person-shaped.

Tumbling backward, Sam crashing into the wall while Arizona stepped backward looking horrified. "Ow…" Sam rubbed his shoulder, wincing as he stood up slowly from the floor where he had fallen after the blonde at ran into him at full speed. "Wow, Dr. Robbins, where's the fire?" He asked casually, looking over her anxious appearance with amusement.

"Sam! Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry! I wasn't looking where I was going… You're okay right? do you need me to look at your shoulder?" She took a deep breath, steadying her racing heartbeat for a moment while looking worriedly over the man standing in front of her. Guiltily she saw he had banged his should against the wall as a result of her carelessness.

"Nah," he moved his shoulder experimentally, rotating his arm, "See? I'm good, no harm done," he promised with a reassuring smile.

"Awesome," Arizona grinned weakly back at him. "You haven't umm… see Callio-" Arizona coughed, "Dr. Torres, you haven't seen Dr. Torres have you?" Attempting to sound casual, and non-desperate, Arizona searched his face frantically for recognition.

"Callie? Yeah I saw her a few minutes ago, when I was going out to grab some dinner. She was heading up the stairs, that way," he pointed in the opposite direction that Arizona had been previously sprinting. "I'm just running back up to my room, to grab my bag, with my wallet and stuff," he explained. "I left it in my room."

"She was going… up?" Arizona asked in confusion, looking back up the way she had come.

"Yep, you just missed her. She looked kind of upset, did something happen-" He looked at Arizona curiously but she attempted an ignorant expression, evidently her anxiety gave her away.

"Thanks Sam," Arizona replied quickly, unable to stall herself anymore as she turned on her heel and dashing back up the stairs. "I'm super sorry about your shoulder," she called behind her, earning a perplexed, although amused grin from Sam who merely shook his head and continued his normal, non speed racer pace, up the stairs.

Upon reaching their floor, Arizona paused, quickly unlocking and opening the door to their room. Nope. No Callie here. Frustrated, Arizona shut the door again before heading up the next set of stairs.

Checking on every floor she passed, Arizona saw no sign of the brunette. She began to lose hope as she neared the top floor, running out of steps to dash madly up. _I must have missed her… she could have passed me when I was checking the room a second time… _Arizona reasoned as she reached the top floor and cast one last fruitless glance around the top floor. Her heart sank, realizing she would just have to wait back at their room for the brunette to return. As she turned away, a door caught her eye.

A battered sign, hanging from the door by a single piece of tape declared 'Roof Access.' It was worth a shot right? Taking a deep breath, Arizona exhaled forcefully before pushing the door open.

It wasn't as dark as Arizona had expected, there was a single floor light on the roof that emitted an orange glow and the few lights from the city below eliminated some of the gloom. A relived sigh escaped her lips, there about ten feet away from the door, a now familiar figure stood in the middle of the roof, her back turned toward Arizona.

She wanted to say something, call out or run up and apologize profusely… Instead, she waited, trying to figure out what to say… what to do.

* * *

**I see you there, don't know where you come from  
Unaware the stare from someone  
Don't appear to care that I saw ya. And I want you**

Callie stood stock still in the middle of the roof, trying to calm the wave of emotions coursing through her body. Once again she had run. She knew it and she wasn't proud of it, but she didn't want to wait for Arizona's reaction… the surprised stare she had gotten was enough embarrassment for a lifetime as far as Callie was concerned.

Up on the roof, the brunette was slightly comforted by the strangely familiar atmosphere. Sure, Seattle Grace's roof contained a helipad and was often drenched by the endless rain, but the scenario was eerily similar. In Seattle, The roof had been _her _place. After Erica, and George she had needed a place to escape the endless barrage of patients and pain that circulated through the halls of the hospital, so she had found solace on the roof. Her visits were rare, but it never changing atmosphere of the roof, coupled with the beautiful view of the Seattle skyline had always helped to clear her thoughts.

And right now, Callie desperately needed to clear her thoughts. Actually, she needed a vacuum cleaner to suck all of the embarrassed, muddled thoughts out of her head, but the roof was her only option.

"Only six more months," Callie reminded herself in a hushed whisper. She loved being a part of the Peace Corps, but it was at times like this when she missed her friends. If something like this had happened back in Seattle, she would have called Mark and headed over to Joe's to drink and wallow with her best friend or Christina would have broken out the tequila and they would have danced it out until three in the morning.

She already gone twenty-two months without hearing one of Mark's perverted jokes, a constant in her life she didn't known she had missed. Cristina hadn't yelled at her for cleaning up the apartment and accidentally moving her surgical textbooks, and Bailey's loud, demanding orders had been notably absent from her life, for twenty-two, long months. She was anxious to return to her world; Callie missed even the most annoying aspects of her life in Seattle and her confusion with Arizona wasn't making her version of homesickness any easier. "You'll see them again in six short months."

Pulling her cell phone out of her jacket pocket, Callie pressed the 'on' button waiting for the display to pop up. There had been an odd phone Callie from Seattle, but she hadn't heard from any of her friends in three months.

_No Service. _"Dammnit," Callie muttered, unsurprised but disappointed all the same. She had barely gotten reception in Seattle half the time; did she really expect to get any in Africa? She hadn't, not really, but she had needed it all the same.

Somehow she was glad she had finally told Arizona, gotten it off of her chest. Despite her mortification, a weight had been lifted off of her shoulders, granted it was bittersweet, but she thought maybe she could get on with her work now.

**You're in the song playing on the background  
All alone but you're turning up now**

**

* * *

**

"Callie?" Arizona murmured, loudly enough for the brunette to hear her across the expanse of the roof. Calling her 'Calliope' didn't feel right, Arizona felt like she might have lost that right for the next few moments.

Callie jumped slightly, spinning around in surprise at the sound of Arizona's voice. A brief touch of anger flooded her eyes for an instant, but Arizona could see that it was vastly overshadowed by embarrassment and fear. A dull ache settled in her chest knowing she had caused it.

Arizona liked to fix things, people… she didn't like to break them.

"Arizona…" Callie responded, bewildered, scared and discomfited all at the same time. She fought to keep the mess of emotions off of her face and out of her voice, but she could hear the tremor in her tone. "How did you know where I was?"

"Sam," the blonde answered, taking an uncertain step foreword. "I mowed him down on the stairs because I was running down to look for you and unfortunately I wasn't exactly uhm… being particularly observant…" Callie attempted a smile and she received a nervous grin in return from Arizona. "He told me you went up… so… I went up the stairs until I came here…"

"Why are you here Arizona?" The pain was evident, and the grin faltered from Arizona's lips as the brunette's hurt washed over her.

"We need to talk… I'm sorry, I just stood there, I-" Arizona began to hurriedly explain before Callie cut her off.

"It's nothing… Really," she lied easily, hating the words as they formed on her tongue. "It's fine, I didn't mean anything by it."

"Callie-" Arizona knew it was a lie, but it was the kind of lie that you weren't supposed to challenge. It was the kind of lie telling you to let it go, move on, leave it alone. It was the kind you lie people tell when they're scared.

**Turn around and you're walking toward me  
I'm breaking down and you're breathing slowly**

"No, Arizona… I'm completely fine." Callie walked toward Arizona, making her way toward the door and forcing a smile over her numb expression. However a pair of surprisingly strong hands caught her shoulders.

Arizona stood in front of Callie, gripping the brunette's shoulders lightly as she stilled the other women's movements. "No. Callie, you're not. I can tell," under her touch, Callie flinched and Arizona dropped her hands, helplessly, to her sides, ready to catch Callie if she tried to leave again. "You meant something by it…"

"You haven't ever just said something without meaning it?" Callie rambled, her trademark defense mechanism. "Like… telling your friend you really like the dinner they made you, even if you hated it… or complimenting a really, ugly scarf that someone spent a butt load of money on…" She wasn't making any sense, Arizona just did that to her. Around the blonde, speaking didn't seem to be her strong point.

"So," Arizona replied patiently, suppressing a small smile at Callie's rambling. "You're saying, you were lying when you told me that you were gay?"

"No…" Callie sighed, inching away from the blonde in front of her. "No… I wasn't, I'm… gay… I just… tend to ramble sometimes…"

"Look Callie…" Arizona paused, struggling to put words to her thoughts. "I _think_ I know why, you've been avoiding me… and I hope I'm right…" Callie paled at this, but nodded and continued to listen. "But, my last assumption about you blew up in my face, so I need to you to tell me."

"What do you think it is?" Callie asked in a small voice, hopeful but terrified at the same time.

"I need you to tell me first, because if I'm wrong I'm going to sound like a complete idiot and as a general rule, I prefer to avoid that... You're always doing the opposite of what I think, you go up the stairs in stead of down, you avoid me for a week then tell me you're gay… I could go insane trying to figure you out Calliope. So," Arizona flashed her a brief, dimpled smile, "you first."

"I um… you know what? It's really nothing, I'm feeling sick, I'm just going to go back to the room… and… rest, and drink fluids…" Callie nodded her head quickly, walking past Arizona purposefully toward the door once again.

"Nope." Arizona caught Callie's wrist. "Nah uh! I let you get away with that ridiculous shoe store excuse, but no more excuses… talk to me."

"Fine…" Callie sighed, resigned herself to actually facing her fears; biting her lip as Arizona gently released her wrist and looked expectantly up at her. "I… _might_ have a tiny, microscopic, very, VERY, small crush… on… uhm… you…"

A huge smile curved at the corners of Arizona's lips, "Really?" She asked, a faint trace of anticipation coloring her tone.

"Yeah," Callie admitted reluctantly her cheeks flushing a violent shade of red.

**What's your name  
Cuz' I have to know it  
You let me in and begin to show it  
We're terrified 'cuz we're heading straight for it, might get it.**

"But…" Callie quickly finished, misinterpreting Arizona's expression. "It doesn't mean anything… I have crushes all time… totally, they go away in… like a day…"

"You've been avoiding me for more than a week," Arizona answered wryly, both amused and annoyed by the rambling women in front of her.

"It's just a… long one…" Callie lied again, protecting herself from getting hurt. Because, in the end after George and Erica, that's all she really knew how to do, that's all she could do.

"Okay." Arizona took a step back from Callie, "I'm getting sick of this."

"Huh?" Brown eyes widened in surprise and fled to Arizona's face to meet an annoyed, frustrated gaze.

Irritated at herself, at Callie, at the situation Arizona began talking… She wanted this out in the open, if anything she wanted to get it off of her chest.

"I get to Africa, starting a six moth assignment with the Peace Corps" Arizona began, earning a confused look from Callie. "and I meet this really nice women… We're bunkmates, we're both surgeons and we became friends. She saves me from carelessly walking on top of a poisonous snake and she preformed badass surgery in the middle of nowhere… Sure, I think she's attractive… breathtaking even, but I would never act on it…" Callie still looked confused, but at this point Arizona was past caring as words tumbled from her lips. "This women was a complete enigma, first we seemed like friends… like I said, I had a crush, but being friends was great, she was funny, awesome, super, badass and genuinely kind… Then she starts avoiding me… it makes no sense, I can't figure it out for days and frankly it hurts." Callie winced, reaching out a hand toward Arizona but dropping it down by her side as the blonde continued. "It get's better, this women then tells me she's gay, and I stand there like an imbecile…" Arizona paused taking a deep breath and Callie looked like she was about to interrupt but the blonde shot her a glance that silenced her. "I wanted to tell her I have had a crush on her for two straight weeks, I wanted to ask her out on a date… I mean… I can't actually take her on a date since we work in the middle of small town in Africa, but the principle still holds… then she tells me it doesn't mean anything... we don't mean anything…" The blonde sucked a deep breath, fixing Callie with an intimidating stare.

"Arizona, I really didn't-" Callie stuttered, feeling hope begin to build in her chest at Arizona's confession.

"You make me insane…" The blonde continued, breathlessly, still rambling. "I can't think straight when I'm standing close to you… I blush really, _really red _when whenever I catch you looking at me… and I need you to decide so we can get back to being normal bunkmates or something… Whatever this is," Arizona gestured at the space between her and Callie, "it's confusing… We can be something, or we can be friends…" She once again gestured between them, "This… thing? it makes me insane. Make a choice."

"You need to stop making speeches'," Callie muttered and Arizona's eyes widened. This was not her definition of making a 'choice.' "You need to stop making speeches…" Callie repeated, a small smile appearing on her lips. "because, you make me insane too."

**Say when**

**And my own two hands will comfort you**

**Tonight, tonight**

**Say when**

**And my own two arms will carry you**

**Tonight, tonight**

**Come close and then even closer**

**We bring it in but we go no further**

**We're separate.**

**Two ghosts in one mirror, no nearer**

**Later on if it turns to chaos, hurricane coming all around us**

**See the crack, pull it back from the window, you stay low**

**

* * *

**

**A/N: I divided this chapter into parts 1 and 2 and that was the end of part 1.**

**So, for all those of you who wanted an update of Tidal Wave, I'll have it up in a few days, I feel bad for taking so long :/ but I'll make it super fluffy :D**

**Did you like it, I was nervous about Arizona's speech, so yeah...? **

**Reviews are always awesome :D**


	7. Rules Are Made to be Broken Part Two

**A/N: This chapter is freakishly long... but I hope you like it all the same.**

**Huge thanks for the reviews, loved all of them :)**

**

* * *

**

**New History**

**Chapter Seven: Rules Are Made to be Broken [Part Two]**

_But now it's over, it's over, why is it over?  
We had the chance to make it  
Now it's over, it's over, it can't be over  
I wish that I could take it back_

_I'm falling apart, I'm falling apart  
Don't say this won't last forever  
You're breaking my heart, you're breaking my heart  
Don't tell me that we will never be together  
We could be, over and over  
We could be, forever_

_**-'It's Not Over' by Secondhand Serenade**_

_"You need to stop making speeches'," Callie muttered and Arizona's eyes widened. This was not her definition of making a 'choice.' "You need to stop making speeches…" Callie repeated, a small smile appearing on her lips. "because, you make me insane too."_

"Really?" Arizona asked quietly, tilting her head to the side and studying Callie's face. Finding only sincerity in the brunette's expression, Arizona felt her own lips curve into an excited grin as she watched the woman before her.

"Really." Callie promised, "I've been avoiding you for the past week. Insane doesn't begin to cover it," she finished, for once overriding her instinctual desire to run. The walls she had carefully built and maintained after George's affair and strengthened after Erica's departure were crumbling in the face of a blue-eyed stare and those adorable dimples.

Callie held her breath as Arizona's eyes widened for a moment but she let herself exhale as a huge smile spread across the blonde's face.

"Awesome," Arizona stated simply earning a bemused smirk from the brunette as well as a raised eyebrow.

"Really… Awesome?"

"Yep." Arizona closed the distance between them in one long stride, stopping when her face was mere centimeters away from Callie's. Blue eyes met brown for a second before Arizona leaned up, placing a hand on Callie's cheek and hesitantly pressing her lips against the brunette's. A pair of hands twined around her, stopping to rest on her waist, bringing Arizona closer and deepening the kiss.

To Arizona it was electric, sending a tingling sensation through her body until they were forced to break for air, smiling and resting their foreheads together.

"See," Arizona wrapped her arms around Callie's neck, before pecking her quickly on the lips. "Awesome."

"Mhmm," Callie hummed, thankful for the darkness to hide the blush that was flooding her cheeks. "I might have to agree with you." Both women were still for a moment, listening to the sound of their breathing mingling with the sounds of the city below. "So," Callie murmured, breaking the silence and drawing the blue eyed gaze toward her. "This is a weird question, but, what happens now?"

"Well," Arizona paused, looking thoughtful. "I was planning on asking you out on a date, is that okay?"

"Completely. Ask away." Arizona laughed softly, unable to resist pressing her lips against Callie's again.

"Okay. Calliope Torres, would you like to go out on a date with me?"

"Yes…" The blonde beamed up at Callie but the grin quickly disappeared, "and no…"

"But you said…" Arizona stuttered, she leaned away from Callie narrowing her eyes. "You're not a newborn are you? I mean I really _want _to go out on a date with you, but if you're going to be all afraid and 'in the closet,' then I can't go… I guess I thought-" A pair of lips crushed against her briefly, rendering her rant silent and eliminating her nervous thoughts.

"What did I tell you about the speeches?" Callie asked as she pulled away from the blonde, still keeping her arms snugly twined around Arizona's waist. "I said no because while I _want_ to date you, while were here we can't… do that publicly. I'm not afraid, I mean I am- you're the only second woman I've ever gone on a date with- but it had nothing to do with that… Here they're not as… open, about that sort of thing, and it could cause problems at the clinic…" Callie wrinkled her nose, "we can, date, we just have to be sneaky," she laughed, but in her arms, Arizona tensed up.

"So, you _are_ a newborn…" Her voice trailed off and she pulled away from the warm embrace she had longed for the past week.

"What are you doing?" Callie's brow furrowed as Arizona took a few steps back from her, shaking her head. "Arizona-"

"I'm sorry… I can't do this…" Arizona muttered, stepping away from the hurt look on Callie's face. The ache in her chest returned, multiplied by what felt like a million as she watched the happiness disappear from the brunette's expression.

"Is this because of the 'date' thing, because-"

"No, it's not that." Waving her hand in a vague gesture against the inky black sky, Arizona ran her fingers through her hair anxiously. "I just... I don't date newborns… I'm so sorry Calliope, I didn't know-"

"What on earth is a newborn," Callie replied thinly, a pang of hurt ripping through her chest as Arizona took another step back. "Last time I checked, I was thirty four…"

"A newborn is someone who has just realized they're gay… they've only dated one or two people." She explained, refusing to meet Callie's eyes.

"I've only dated _one _other women. But, Arizona I've been in the Peace Corps for a year and a half, to be blunt… I've had my share of one night stands…"

"It's not the same Calliope… You should be exploring, experiencing things… I can't be your next one night stand so you can prove to yourself that you're a lesbian…"

"You're not serious Arizona…"

Arizona nodded. "I'm sorry-"

"You think I need to _experience_ things?" In response, Arizona nodded numbly, avoiding Callie's accusatory gaze. "Arizona, I've been married, I've been cheated on, I've been divorced, and my last girlfriend walked away from me in a parking lot and never said _anything… _So, no, you don't get to classify me as one of these 'newborns' of yours. I know I'm gay, I didn't want a one night stand with you," Callie laughed bitterly causing the blue-eyed gaze to jerk upwards in confusion. "We're in the middle of Africa for the next six months, the only 'exploring' I'm going to be doing is the wilderness safari type, not the gay girls type."

"I'm not saying that-" Arizona began but Callie held up a hand.

"If you think that about me, maybe this was an bad idea," Stepping around Arizona, Callie walked to the door casting one last glance over her shoulder before turning and grabbing the door handle.

"Calliope!" Arizona called across the roof, halting Callie, but only for a brief moment.

"It's Callie," the brunette corrected firmly. Callie's gaze collided with Arizona's for a moment and across the roof, the blonde could see anger and hurt swimming across her expression. "Not Calliope. It's Callie."

With that final word Callie shut the door behind her, leaving Arizona standing alone on the roof.

Arizona jammed her fists into her pockets, forcefully exhaling and shaking her head. Stifling the tears she felt pooling in the corners of her eyes, Arizona let a shuddering sigh escape her lips before she walked slowly toward the door.

She didn't want to face Callie, she didn't want to see the harsh, hurt look that she knew she would see on Callie's face. Because, she knew she deserved it.

Shutting the door behind her, Arizona slumped against the wall on the top floor of the building. She let her back rest on the wall, sliding down to the floor and nestling her head on her knees.

Arizona was a woman of principle; she prided herself on that fact. Sure she was perky, very spontaneous at times, but she had basic rules built from experience. She had dated a woman, for three months, who then decided, _hey, I'm not gay anymore_… She didn't date newborns; it was a rule, one of her treasured principles.

So… why did this one woman make her want to throw all of these principles away?

* * *

Oddly, the next morning Callie seemed… fine. She smiled, although her smile was tight, barely reaching her eyes and for the first time in the past week she didn't run off to the clinic early in the morning. She waited for Arizona, so they could walk together.

Arizona almost preferred the avoidance. She had always eschewed people who judged others, put people in specific groups, assigning them arbitrary labels. But she had found herself doing the exact same thing, and she felt horrible. But, seeing Callie like this was disconcerting, she knew it was an act, but still… Arizona didn't feel like smiling after last night, and she _always _felt like smiling.

The tension was tangible as they walked to the clinic. Step by step they walked in complete silence as Arizona focused on putting one foot in front of the other to avoid staring at the women next to her, _left, right, left, right_… At one point their fingers brushed together accidentally. Callie jerked away immediately, stuffing her hands into her pockets for the remainder of the walk. That was the most reaction Arizona had gotten out of the brunette since the ordeal on the roof and truthfully, that hurt.

As she walked, numbly putting one foot in front of the other, _left, right, left, right_, she couldn't help it: her blue eyes constantly flickered to Callie's face, searching for a hint of emotion. The unaffected expression the brunette wore bothered Arizona, but she thought there was a new tightness around Callie's eyes, a small downward slope to the line of her lips. Or she was just imagining it… she probably was.

The clinic appeared around the corner, nestled between the infamous shoe store that Callie seemed to like so much and an abandoned building. Opening the door, Callie forced a grin across her ambivalent expression and held the door open for Arizona before following the blonde inside. She didn't miss the hint of confusion swimming in Arizona's eyes as their eyes collided for a split second, but she simply nodded, choosing to avoid Arizona's gaze.

Following their normal routine, both women grabbed their scrubs out of the supply closet and moved to the bathroom to change.

The instant the door closed, Arizona turned toward Callie, arms folded across her chest, intent on apologizing.

"Callie," Arizona paused, wrinkling her nose as she tried to put her jumbled mass of thoughts into coherent phrases.

"Arizona," Callie replied in a monotone, smirking slightly as she turned away and began changing.

"Wait," fingers gripped Callie's arm for a brief moment before slipping away as Arizona once again crossed her arms across her chest. "Why are you acting so…" In exasperation Arizona shook her head, stirring the blonde curls around her face. "So… normal, I mean you should be yelling at me… but you're smiling, I think you might be faking, but… I don't know…"

"Do you want me to rant and rage at you?" Callie asked, glaring at Arizona. "I would be more than happy to be a complete bitch if you prefer." Despite the forced smile a rush of annoyance laced Callie's tone, her chocolate gaze hardening.

"No, but…" Her voice trailed off as Callie waited for an answer. When no explanation came, she turned away and resumed changing. Arizona's shoulders slumped. She would actually prefer that Callie be a complete bitch, frankly, that's what she had earned.

"I don't get it." The brunette turned around, a formidable mixture of anger and confusion twisting across her face. "You tell me that I'm too much of a… newborn to date you. Sure, I get that, if you can't see past a stereotype then, I get that. But you don't get to expect me to be broken up and teary eyed over you. I'm fine Arizona." Callie stated firmly, yanking her shirt over her head before leaving the bathroom, closing the door behind her with a thud.

"Well, I'm not," Arizona muttered, as the silence settled over her again. With a dull finality Arizona realized the brunette was right.

* * *

Over the course of the day the blonde was surprised that it was possible to completely avoid someone in a one room medical clinic. However, Callie somehow managed to always be rushing somewhere. Always in the opposite direction of a certain blonde. After one such incident, near the end of the day, when Callie had made a mysterious trip to the supply closet for gauze to avoid Arizona at the desk, a man burst through the door.

Shoving the door open with his free hand a man ran in, his clothes stained red with blood and his eyes wide with terror. He was cradling a woman against his chest and despite her dark complexion, she looked dangerously pale.

"My wife!" The man yelled, his arms shaking as blood dripped onto the floor. "Please… someone, please! You have to help her!"

Arizona immediately ran over to him followed by Isaac who quickly abandoned the charting and rushed to Arizona's side.

"Sir," Arizona began, blanching at the sight of the amount of blood the woman had lost. "Here, put her on the bed," she gestured toward a free bed closest to the doorway and the man hurriedly lay his wife down before looking anxiously up at Arizona.

"What happened?" Isaac asked as Arizona quickly checked her vitals. The blonde's heart sunk in her chest, this woman needed the machines that Seattle Grace and modern hospitals offered, she needed what they didn't have.

"A car," the man muttered, his hands trembling as she reached over and clasped his wife's hand. "not a lot of cars drive by here, so… W-we crossed the street, just like we do every Saturday on the way to the market at the center of town… b-but this car… it just came out of nowhere… I tried to pull her o-out of the w-ay… b-but…"

In response to the commotion, Callie moved instantly to Arizona's side, next to the bed.

"Oh my god," Callie murmured, under her breath. "What happened?" She asked Arizona quietly all remnants of their disagreement; their differences were put aside, for a moment, in the face of their patient.

"Car," Arizona answered simply, gathering up huge amounts of gauze and beginning to cleanse the woman's wounds, stopping the bleeding by pressing bandages onto open areas.

"It looks like she has a broken leg," Callie paused, gently moving one of the woman's arms, her brown eyes clear and focused. "A broken arm and shoulder," Callie finished looking at Arizona.

"We need to stabilize her first, her pulse is speeding up fast," Arizona kept her hand on the woman's neck, monitoring her pulse. Callie nodded, turning sharply to Isaac.

"Get more bandages, we'll move her to the OR soon," Isaac nodded once, walking quickly toward the supply closet.

"Doctors!" Kopano moved rapidly toward them, "What happened?" he asked sharply, his breath catching at the sight of the woman on the stretcher.

"Callie, she's tachycardic, we need to stop the bleeding and get her to an OR, now!" Callie nodded, packing more gauze onto the woman's chest where blood had soaked through the dressings.

"Get the defibrillator," Callie yelled, gesturing toward Arizona or Kopano, "hurry!"

"We don't have one," Kopano interrupted, looking horror stuck.

"How on earth do you not have one?" Arizona asked, as she desperately wrapped gauze around the woman's chest while feeling her pulse race under her skin.

"We're severely underfunded, there's no other hospitals in the area, about a month ago ours shorted out and we haven't had the money to get it repaired…"

"She's going to be okay… my wife? Please tell me you can help her," the man begged clutching his wife's hand as three pairs of wide, terrified gazes turned toward him. "I brought her here-"

"Her heart stopped," Arizona interrupted, hurriedly beginning compressions on the woman's chest.

"What are you doing? Why is she-"

"Get him out of here!" Callie shouted, nodding at Kopano who grabbed the man's shoulders and pulled him away from the bedside.

"No!" He fought against the doctor's arms, refusing to let go of his wife's hand. "You have to save her, I can't leave she'll…"

"We're doing all we can," he promised pulling the man back a few feet. Finally he succeeded in dragging the man into the waiting room, persuading him that waiting here was the best thing for his wife.

Arizona kept track of compressions, desperately checking the woman's pulse every minute, hoping and praying that she would feel a rhythm. Beside her, Callie packed more gauze onto the wounds in a useless effort to stop the bleeding.

"There's. No. Pulse." Arizona muttered under her breath, counting out the compressions. "C'mon, please… just keep living… I promise we can help you…" She begged through clenched teeth.

Checking the pulse again the blonde's resolve faltered as once again she saw that the heart still wasn't pumping blood through this woman's veins. This cycle continued for ten minutes, Arizona counting out compressions, checking the pulse, finding none and then continuing.

"Just… live," Arizona pleaded as she checked the woman's pulse. "Your husband is out there waiting for you, don't leave him alone… Don't do that to him… Don't give up on him…"

Callie stepped back from the woman's body… her body, that's all it was. She wasn't in there anymore; this was a corpse.

"Arizona," she murmured. "Arizona, she's gone." The blonde shook her head,

"Not yet…" Arizona continued, ignoring Callie as she refused to end her robotic cycle. Callie stretched out a hand, firmly gripping Arizona's shoulder but the other woman shook her off. "No. She's not dead yet." She insisted; her blue eyes clouded by grief.

"Arizona…" Callie moved behind the blonde, putting a restraining hand on Arizona's arm, stilling her movements. Slowly the brunette guided Arizona's hands away from the woman's body, pulling her back from the table. "She's gone," she murmured softly into the blonde's ear. "We tried… we really tried but… she's gone."

"Time of death, 7:42 p.m." Arizona mumbled tearing herself free from Callie's comforting grip and walking toward the bathrooms.

Callie walked numbly toward the man in the waiting room, he was tapping his foot against the floor, looking toward the curtained off beds with terror. The minute he saw Callie he jumped up and rushed toward her.

"Please," he pleaded, "Tell me she'll be alright." Callie squeezed her eyes tightly shut for an instant before adopting the most neutral expression she could manage.

"I'm sorry… She lost too much blood and her heart stopped-"

"No…" He took a step away from her, denial written all over his face. Callie nodded in affirmation, trying to keep the emotion off of her face.

His reaction wasn't what she had expected. She had anticipated yelling, screaming, crying and more denial instead he simply sat down. The man's face went completely blank as he crumpled against the seat, his shoulders slumping in defeat as he raised his eyes to Callie's face.

"Say it," he mumbled, dropping his head into his hands.

"Her heart stopped, the injuries were too extensive… we did all we could-"

"Please, just say it." The pain in his eyes struck Callie full force as he looked up at her.

"She's dead," jamming her fists into her pockets to keep her hands from trembling Callie watched as tears leaked form the corners of the man's eyes. "Would you like to see her… to uhm…" She wanted to say, '_say goodbye'_ but she couldn't form the words around the guilt building in her chest.

"Yes," he murmured, standing up unsteadily and following Callie to his wife's bedside.

Reaching out tentatively, the man extended a hand, brushing a stray stand of hair away from his wife's lifeless face, leaning down and pressing a light kiss against her forehead, and grasping her hand.

"I'm so sorry," he murmured toward his wife's body. "I should have pulled you away, or checked the lights... something..." Callie could see he was completely broken. He just looked lost, standing there, clutching his wife's hand as if it was his lifeline. She stepped back, feeling like an intruder in a private moment as a few tears began to drip down the man's cheeks.

Turning away, she ripped off her gloves, tossing them into the trash and headed toward the bathroom to change.

* * *

"Oh… Hi Callie," Arizona was slumped against the wall, tear tracks staining dry rivers down her cheeks. "I'm sorry for… ah running off like that, I just couldn't…"

"I get it," Callie nodded, sitting down on the floor next to Arizona and leaning her head back against the wall. "I told him. He just looked so lost, he didn't scream or blame me the way I expected he would… it's like he died too…" She sighed, running her fingers through her now messy curls.

Callie kept a well-defined inch of space between her and the blonde as they sat tiredly against the wall. But, Callie noticed Arizona was biting her lip, her shoulders trembling as tears pooled in the corers of her eyes.

Arizona brushed a hand across her face, letting out a shuddering sigh and hoping that she could keep the tears at bay behind her eyes. To her surprise, she felt a tentative arm wrap around her shoulders. She looked up to see Callie next to her, looking nervous but also concerned.

Arizona knew she shouldn't: she had her principles, but at that moment they seemed trivial.

"I feel horrible," Arizona admitted, relaxing into Callie's comforting embrace. "I keep telling myself there was nothing we could have done… but the look on his face," she winced, letting out a quivering breath.

"I know." Callie murmured, trailing her hand up and down Arizona's arm soothingly. "But we're here, and even if it doesn't seem like it sometimes, we're helping people… It doesn't make up for the look on his face, but eventually that thought helps." Arizona nodded, her cheek rubbing against the fabric of Callie's scrubs.

"Callie-"

"Don't call me that," she corrected Arizona with a small smile, shifting closer to the blonde across the floor. "It just sounds wrong coming from you…"

"But you said…" Arizona looked confused as she peered up at the brunette, but Callie just shrugged.

"I know what I said, but I was being an idiot…" The blonde still looked doubtful. "Look Arizona, I wasn't fine… this morning, that was a load of crap because what I was upset about what happened last night… but I can forget it, we can just go back to being bunkmates, you know… Team Awesome. Despite what you did last night, as a friend I miss you. So, from you, 'Callie' just sounds wrong. To you, I can be Calliope." Callie didn't want to forgive the woman sitting next to her, but as friends they had been fine.

Arizona grinned and it was _almost _enough.

"Okay so, _Calliope,_" Callie laughed, it was a hollow sound but it was still there. "I wanted to talk to you about something… Today… that man, he'll never see his wife again… They we're walking together one day and then… It sounds horribly cliché but it feels like life's too short… you know? Like it's too short to waste it worrying about stupid rules…"

Callie shot Arizona a confused look but the blonde merely shook her head.

"I was wrong... about you… today just convinced me of that, it's nothing you did specifically… but you were… you…" She paused, blushing furiously, "That doesn't make sense-"

"We don't have to do this Arizona," Callie interrupted, once again misinterpreting the blonde. "We can be friends, but after last night-"

"Just listen… okay? I understand if you don't want to, you know… forgive me. But, I'm asking you for a second chance… because I make mistakes…"Arizona bit her lip for an instant before getting up and grabbing her backpack.

"Where are you going?" Callie asked as Arizona began walking toward the door.

"Back to the dorms. Last night, that wasn't... I called it wrong, but I'm asking you to give me a second chance..." Arizona answered with an anxious smile, offering either friendship or something else… "I'm sorry that I keep doing this, and you're probably already sick of me... but you've got another choice to make _Calliope_ Torres."

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**A/N: So... sorry about this chapter I know it wasn't what you guys wanted, but please don't hate me :D**

**That was the end of my rush of updates this week lol, it's going to go back to less frequent updates for my stories now... like normal-ish.**

**Either Tidal Wave, New History, or Pics of You will be updated next, I'm not sure as of now :)**

**Reviews=Love XD**


	8. Royally Screwing Up

**A/N: A lot of this is thoughts, so those are in _Italics... Yay for that :D_**

**(Sort of) So much angst in this chapter, but don't worry, the end is all smiley happy :D It's meant to explain a bit about Callie… being a relationship time bomb… etc, You know, the usual. **

**Second, (there wasn't really a first.. but...) Love all of the reviews, you guys, pure awesomeness as always. This is a bit shorter than last chapter's monstrosity but I was pretty happy with it. Also, I didn't think I was going to be able to update for a while, but life is still surprisingly un-busy (that all ends tomorrow) so, between that and watching lots of Skins, and Private Practice episodes, I had time to type this...**

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**New History**

**Chapter Eight: Royally Screwing Up**

_Just woke up and thought I'd try_  
_Try to step across the line_  
_You know that I've been thinking about it for a while, yeah_  
_Starting to think it's time I leave_  
_Does me good to know I finally feel_  
_Feel this pain, it's really possible_

_You say, can't change the winds_  
_You say, won't matter anyway_  
_Can't reach that far 'cause it's impossible_  
_Can't rise above this place_  
_Won't change enough, so I pray_  
_Breaking down the walls to the impossible_

_Walking by myself I know_  
_This lonely road's becoming my new home_  
_But I don't stop, I just keep moving on and on_  
_Ain't no need to dry my eyes_  
_I haven't cried in quite some time_  
_Every day I fight it, you know it's possible_  
**_-'Impossible' by Kelly Clarkson _**

Callie sat slumped against the wall, not really caring that she was in fact on the floor of the clinic bathroom. Arizona had left over an hour ago, flashing Callie a nervous, dimpled smile before grabbing her backpack and telling the brunette she had a choice to make. And, Callie was still on the bathroom floor, an hour later, still confused.

Her fingers tapped relentlessly against the tile as thoughts swirled around in her head. Visuals of the man who had lost his wife, Arizona counting out the endless compressions while determination flashed through her blue eyes, the blonde walking away from her on the roof, telling her that she was a 'newborn' or some kind of lesbian baby, pretending to be 'fine' all day long while Arizona shot her suspicious looks. Arizona, she was the common thread in the brunette's confused thoughts.

'_You've got a choice to make Calliope Torres,'_

If Callie was being honest, there really was no 'choice' to make. She had made her choice when she had told Arizona she was gay, when she had said yes to Arizona's invitation to a date. She had made a subconscious choice when her brain decided to dream about Arizona Robbins three times in one week. So really, there was absolutely no choice to be made here, there were just an annoying amount of roadblocks that seemed determined dissuade her from continuing. That is, if she was being honest. And, at that moment Callie Torres wasn't exactly being honest with herself.

_I shouldn't go. _She thought, pushing images of Arizona's grinning face out of her mind._ Friends would be better, just normal, run of the mill, bunkmates who talk… who DON'T kiss on the roof of the dorm building, and also bunkmates who don't dump each other on said roof. _Callie leaned against the wall her lips twisted down into a thoughtful frown. Fiddling with a stray thread on her scrubs, Callie jerked away, banging her elbow against the wall of the bathroom, wincing and uttering a few choice curse words in fluent Spanish. She was still covered in blood.

The brunette pulled the thin fabric of the t-shirt over her head, tossing it into the dirty clothes bin in the corner, and following the same routine with the pants. In her backpack, Callie located the change of clothes she had packed earlier that morning, hurriedly pulling them on. Satisfied that she was no longer wearing the blood of a woman she couldn't save, Callie slumped against the wall again. Now there was nothing to distract her. She was avoiding the issue, trying to find some reason why should couldn't deal with this now… Unfortunately for her, there was none.

_I think… it's her dimples. _The brunette decided, _She makes perky, cheery speeches at me then runs off… it must be the dimples, and her eyes… Eyes aren't SUPPOSED to be that blue, it's just wrong. _Groaning, Callie realized she was making no progress whatsoever on her 'choice.' Attempting to focus her thoughts on something other than the adorable dimples on Arizona's face, Callie shut her eyes tightly for a moment, concentrating. _She makes me insane, her and her STUPID dimples, why did I have to get __her__ for a bunkmate? I mean, some hideously ugly, hairy, mean, jerk-like bunkmate would be better; then I probably wouldn't be here, on the floor of the freaking bathroom. It's some huge cosmic joke. _She decided with a definitive jerk of her head.

She thought over what Arizona had done, humiliated her… once, then apologized an almost annoying amount of times… but really it would be more than easy to forgive the blonde. Callie desperately wanted to, but there were still those skeletons in her closet… Erica and George shaped skeletons to be exact, all stuffed away in this tiny closet in the back of her mind behind the fortress like walls Callie had erected around herself.

Erica had left, sucked out into the oblivion of ignored test messages and unanswered phone calls. 'Death by parking lot' as far as Callie was concerned. There was always a small part of her that wondered what she had done to push Erica away. When rationalizing the situation, Callie always convinced herself that she hadn't done anything wrong, it was all on Erica but she hadn't heard a word from the blonde in years despite the numerous texts. So, for Callie there was no way of knowing. Erica had made her cautious because, after George, Erica had built her up, only to knock her down, like some vindictive seven year old with a building block tower.

_Arizona's not like Erica, _Callie reminded herself. _She isn't distant or cold, she's the exact freaking opposite, all rainbows and butterflies. _But the thing that stuck out to Callie was that Arizona had _asked. _She had admitted she was wrong and apologized in that adorable, ranting way she had. If she was still comparing Arizona and Erica, the phrase, 'I'm sorry' was definitely not in Erica's dictionary, much less 'I was wrong.'

Maybe there was a reason. _Maybe, I'm not the only one with skeletons, _Callie mused. _There has to be a reason for her mysterious rules. _She normally wasn't this much of a cliché, but really, the sincerity radiating from Arizona's every movement, her every phrase was comforting. Even when she backed away from Callie on the roof, she had been apologizing, trying to let her down easy. That was what enforced the difference between the two blondes, Erica and Arizona. She was genuine.

Callie slowly got up, picking up her backpack from where is sat next to her on the floor and straightened up. She had made her 'choice.'

* * *

Callie dug a few spare coins out of her bag, jamming them into the pay phone down the street and dialing the familiar number. It rang twice before the familiar gruff voice answered, sounding sleepy and slightly annoyed.

"Hello?" He asked, hoping it wasn't the hospital calling at three in the morning to pull him into surgery.

"Mark?" Callie wedged the phone between her shoulder and her ear, putting her backpack back on.

"Torres?" Mark sounded surprised and relieved. "Is that you Callie? Geez, it's been more than three months, I was getting ready to fly down there to make sure you weren't dead."

"I'm in Africa genius, cell service is hard to come by," she laughed, feeling the tension drain out of her thoughts at the sound of her best friend's voice.

"Hey," he replied, defensively. "If you're going to be like that, I'm going to hang up on you." Mark teased with an empty threat. He was of course reluctant to admit to himself that he had missed Callie Torres, but the sound of his best friend's voice was a welcome surprise, even if it did come at three in the morning.

"You won't."

"Try me," Callie could practically her his smug grin through the phone.

"Okay fine, so… How's everything at the hospital?" She asked, taking comfort in their familiar snide conversations.

"Boring, as usual. It's a lot safer around here without Erica waiting to bite my head off, but it's less interesting without my favorite contact to the wonderful world of girl on girl action" he remarked coyly, earning an annoyed snort from the brunette "I've missed you Torres."

"Thanks Mark," She muttered, a reluctant smile curving her lips. "I suppose I've missed you too. Pervy comments and all."

"Of course you miss me. Not that I'm complaining or anything, but what's up Callie? Why the sudden urge to talk to me? I mean, I know I'm an irresistible conversational wizard, but knowing you, there's probably something more."

"I have a bit of a problem…"

"Oh?" Mark smirked into the phone, "if you called me to deal with that problem, then it must be…" His voice trailed off suggestively, leaving Callie with the strong urge to smack him.

"I guess you could say that," she winced. "Yeah… actually you could totally say that."

"Spill."

"There's this woman, my bunkmate-"

"Bunkmate? Hold on, I'm having a flashback," he grinned at the frustrated sigh he heard at the other end of the line.

"You need to watch less porn," Callie remarked snidely, although she was relieved some things, like the perverseness of her best friend, would never change.

"I'm offended, I never watch porn." He stated, sincerely hoping that Lexie who was asleep in their bedroom couldn't hear this conversation.

"Sure you don't. Whatever, maybe I should just hang up," she threatened, earning a quick apology from her best friend. "Okay, so like I was saying there is this woman," she paused, waiting for some suggestive comment but continuing when Mark kept his mouth shut. "She kind of asked me out, then she said I was too much of a newborn to date her…"

"A newborn?"

"I didn't know either, but it's like a lesbian who has only dated a few people… Either way, now she told me she had misjudged me and asked me to forgive her… What do I do?"

"Do you like her?" Mark asked, rummaging through the fridge quietly, as he talked.

"What? No perverted comments? I'm proud… but yeah, I guess I do like her… a lot." Callie admitted reluctantly, feeling a blush flood her cheeks.

"Then what's the problem Cal? I mean she admitted she was wrong, so to me she already sounds a hell of a lot better than Erica, so… why are you freaked?"

"I don't really know why, she just does that to me…" Callie bit her lip, "I don't know."

"Just go for it Torres," Mark advised sagely, taking a huge bite out of the apple he had found in the fridge. "But tell me, is she hot?"

"Thanks Mark, really… Thanks. And yeah, really, _really _hot."

"Anytime, Torres. When are you coming back, isn't it only like four months now?"

"Five and a half," Callie answered, her lips twisting down into a disappointed frown. "I can't wait to see everyone again."

"We miss you, even Bailey and Christina… Though they'll never admit it. You better call me more often now that I woke up at three o'clock to dispense advice."

"Oh my gosh! Mark it's three in the morning? I didn't even think, wow… I completely forgot about the time difference." She apologized earning only an amused laugh from her best friend.

"It's fine Callie, I don't have to be in to the hospital early so it's okay. But, I'm guessing you're antsy to go see this bunkmate of yours?"

"Maybe…"

"Go," He said, "just call more often, okay?"

"I'll see you soon," Mark snorted and Callie quickly amended her statement. "Well sort of soon… I miss you."

"I miss you to Callie," Mark replied. "It's not the same Seattle Grace without Callie Torres, but please… Next time you call me needing advice, consider the time difference."

"I promise," Callie replied between laughs. "Bye Mark."

"Bye Torres."

* * *

Arizona Robbins was pacing. She never paced, she was more of a nervous smoker than a pacer, but apparently Calliope Torres made Arizona Robbins pace. Also, because of the brunette, she desperately wanted a cigarette since she had a sinking feeling that her apologies had fallen on deaf ears. When she was trouble she smoked, and the blonde felt that she had created a whole mess of trouble for herself and her bunkmate starting with her ridiculous 'newborn' rules. So yes, she needed to smoke.

"That was idiotic," Arizona reminded herself under her breath, completing another circle around the tiny dorm room while she paced. "Totally… just… wrong." She decided with a firm nod of her head as nerves twisted in her stomach.

It had been two hours, TWO whole, long, agonizing hours since she had left Callie in the bathroom. She had expected the brunette to come back to the dorm room within minutes, delivering her verdict on the giant mess Arizona had imagined she had created. But no, she had been pacing for the past forty five minutes after nervously trying to busy herself for the other hour and fifteen minutes she had been waiting.

_Maybe she fell asleep, yeah… on the bathroom floor, it might be… comfortable. _It was a pitiful attempt to rationalize her fears, even as she thought it she realized that. _It must be too much to forgive; I was completely out of line… I chase her up onto the roof, kiss her, them break up with her, in the space of about fifteen minutes… Even I wouldn't give someone that someone a second chance. _Arizona sighed, walking past the bed and stopping at the lone window to see if she could see Callie coming up the street.

No one.

"Perfect," Arizona mumbled, beginning to pace again, "really… I deserve some kind of award for how royally I screwed up…" _Now I'm all about the self pity, _she wrinkled her nose, _I'm not like that, I'm good in a storm… I'm… _Frustrated, Arizona walked past the bed against missing the figure standing in the doorway, looking extremely amused.

"Maybe I should find her," she muttered before shaking her head and dismissing the idea. "That's kind of stalkerish-"

"Are you talking to yourself?" Callie asked, amusement flickering in her eyes as Arizona spun around her eyes wide open.

"Calliope- OW!" Arizona banged into the bed, having veered off her well-worn pacing path at the arrival of the brunette. She stumbled, grabbing the bedpost and hopping up and down on one foot for a moment before remembering she still wasn't alone. "Hi…" she said tentatively, watching as Callie's eyes flicked first with worry to her sore leg, then back up to her face. A blush spread across Arizona's cheeks as she noticed Callie looked as if she was trying very hard to suppress a laugh.

"Hey," Callie replied, enjoying for a moment how nervous and flustered Arizona appeared.

"Did you… uhm… What took you so long?" Arizona asked, reluctant to barge right into the conversation.

"I thought for awhile, then I used the payphone to call my best friend," she answered, deliberately not answering Arizona's unspoken question and watching as nerves once again flickered in the blonde's blue eyes.

"Oh, how… was that?" Arizona awkwardly studied Callie's expression, she didn't look angry, or annoyed per say, though Arizona was slightly embarrassed to see that the brunette looked very amused.

"It was nice," Callie answered simply. "I hadn't talked him in three months or so, so it was nice to… you know, just talk…" Unable to resist the topic of conversation anymore, Callie began "Arizona I-"

"It's okay," Arizona blurted, earning an annoyed glance from Callie. "I understand what I did was… horrible… I get it… if you can't-"

"Do you remember what I said about the speeches?" Callie asked with a teasing smile. A grin briefly flitted across Arizona's face before the blonde obediently pressed her lips together. "I can't be friends with you." Callie stated, bluntly and Arizona's face fell.

"Okay, well-"

"I can't be friends with you because…" Callie sighed in frustration, Arizona watched as a small hint of hope welled in her chest. "I'm not as good with the speeches as you are but… I can't be _just_ be friends with you, because despite the fact you called me a baby," Arizona was going to correct her, saying 'newborn' but instead she watched Callie blush and continue to ramble. "I still want to date you… If you still want to…"

"So, you still want to, even after I… did _that,_" Arizona asked insecurely.

"Yeah," Callie smiled, "You're forgiven. I guess I can kind of understand it, even though it was a mortifying experience."

Arizona winced but a smile slowly crept over her expression. Beaming up at the brunette, Arizona took a few steps foreword, hesitating only inches from the woman in front of her.

"You sure?" The blonde asked quietly, her fingers only a hairs breadth away from Callie.

The brunette was about to answer, but instead, she shot Arizona a grin, tugging her closer by the edges of her jacket and crushing their lips together. In response, Arizona's hands found their way around Callie's waist, tugging her closer and pressing their bodies together.

"I'm _very _sure."

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**A/N: So... did that live up to expectations? I was missing Mark in this fic, so I added him in briefly... but yeah XD**

**I hope you guys liked it, there is some clinic drama coming soon, but I can't really bring Erica back anytime soon in this fic so you're safe from her at least. **

**Please review XD Reviews make me write faster :D**


	9. Electric Feel

**A/N: OKAY! So, , so, so, so sorry about deleting last chapter... I just didn't like it and I decided I needed to rewrite it. That said, the beginning is mostly similar, just a few dialouge changes so if you want, just skip to the the first dividing line. When they get to the clinic is where the difference begins.**

**NOTE: This chapter is VERY (sort of) different than last chapter.. so... ERASE the old chapter nine from your minds... kay?**

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New History

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Chapter Nine (re-done): Electric Feel

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All along the eastern shore  
Put your circuits in the sea  
This is what the world is for  
Making electricity  
You can feel it in your mind  
Oh you can do it all the time  
Plug it in and change the world  
You are my electric girl.

_**-Electric Feel by MGMT**_

**(Next Morning…)**

Arizona yawned widely before stretching and burrowing down into the covers to steal a few more moments of rest before she had to drag herself out of bed. Squeezing her eyes shut firmly against the rays of sunlight that conspired to keep her wide-awake, Arizona attempted to return to her dream. It was one of those mornings where despite how much of a morning person she happened to be, Arizona just want to stay cocooned in the blankets and slip back into dream land.

The only problem was that, after waking up, the dream seemed to fade out of her mind no matter how hard she tried try to recapture it. Arizona sighed, squashing her head into the fabric of the pillow and keeping her eyes tightly closed. _Breathe in, breathe out… _As she attempted to force her body to relax, she steadied her breathing. Taking long slow deep breaths she tried to return to her dream, focusing on the last vibrant image she remembered. _See, _she thought triumphantly_, I'm falling asleep… It's working… Totally…_With a sigh, Arizona opened her eyes, realizing that she was still very much awake._ This. Isn't. Working. _Arizona muffled a groan.

It had been an _amazing _dream. SUPER, just super awesome.

Everything seemed to have been magically resolved. In her dream she hadn't made a fool out of herself by rejecting the woman she had been nursing a huge crush on… Nope. In her dream Callie had come back to the apartment that night and told her-

Wait.

Arizona opened one eye, twisting so she was lying on her side in the bed. Callie was there, in the bed next to hers, her hair messy as she snored softly into her pillow.

Slowly things started to come back to her. The garbled train of thoughts and images slowly assembled themselves in her mind, much the same way they did when Arizona had woken up with a massive hangover and no recollection of the night before. Not that that had happened recently… Callie _had _come back to the apartment. Arizona winced, remembering that way she had walked blindly into the bed and banged her knee. She remembered Callie telling her they couldn't be _just _friends. She wanted to date her. Her. Calliope Torres wanted to date HER, Arizona Robbins.

A dimpled smile creased Arizona's lips as her gaze wandered over to the brunette sleeping soundly a few feet away. Beside the bed on the small night table, Arizona's alarm clock, that Callie had almost broken on the second day in her sleepy desperation to get the infernal beeping to stop, was blinking 8:15 a.m.

_8:15, _Arizona mused lazily. _That means we still have… 8:15! Crap, we have to be at the clinic in fifteen minutes. Dang it!_

Stumbling out of bed, Arizona grabbed a change of clothes out of the small chest of drawers that she and Callie shared before moving to her roommate's bedside.

"Calliope," Arizona murmured softly, her hurry momentarily distracted by the sight of Callie's sleeping face. She let her gaze trace the features of the brunette's features before shaking herself out of her trance. "Callie," she said, louder this time. The brunette stirred under the covers and her eyelids fluttered open briefly before she mumbled something incoherent and snuggled back down under the covers. "We're late, _really _late, Calliope," Arizona reached out and poked Callie lightly on her upper arm, again getting little or no response.

Momentarily giving up, Arizona hurried into the bathroom, brushing her teeth and tying her hair up into a messy ponytail as Callie continued to sleep. Returning to the brunette's bedside with a full cup of water, she knelt next to Callie's bed.

"I'm going to pour this on you," Arizona warned the non-responsive woman, holding the cup menacingly out over Callie's head. Although Callie was supposedly asleep, Arizona was almost certain that Callie could hear her. The way on lazy morning she sometimes slept in until nine but she could hear the sounds of city life continuing on outside of her apartment. She normally wouldn't result to such unpleasant measure as a method of waking someone up but they now had just over five minutes to get to the clinic.

"Seriously Calliope, don't doubt it, I will," She tipped the cup, leaving only a few millimeters of space between the edge of the cup and the water. "Okay," Arizona bit her lip, tilting the cup ever so slightly so a narrow stream of water dripping onto Callie's cheek.

The effect was instantaneous; Callie jerked awake, looking around wildly and wiping the water off of her face.

"What the heck!" Callie stuttered as water dripped off of her face onto the pillow. "Arizona?" she turned her head to the bed next to hers where the blonde should be sleeping. "Wha-" It was then that Callie's confused gaze found Arizona who was standing in front of her, clutching the cup of water in front of her and regretting not hiding the evidence. "That was YOU?" She stuttered, glaring at the cup in Arizona's hand as the blonde shot her a small smile.

"You wouldn't wake up," Arizona explained, handing Callie a towel from the bathroom. "And, we have to be at the clinic in five minutes."

"I can think of much better ways for you to wake me up," Callie muttered mutinously under her breath as Arizona stood up, flashing her a bright smile.

"Nope," Arizona held up the glass of water, "if you expect _that, _you have to take me on a date first. Until then," she gestured to the cup, "you get this."

"_That_, was not what I meant." Callie yawned, reluctantly getting out of bed. "You kiss me, then call me a baby, then dump me, then pour water on me… really, you don't come off sounding to great," she teased sleepily, falling back onto her pillow.

"Then it must be my glowing personality," Arizona remarked with a dimpled grin. "Hey!" She returned to Callie's bedside, as the brunette determinedly squeezed her eyes shut, feigning sleep. "Get. Up. I still have the water," she threatened.

Callie smirked but didn't reply as she headed into the bathroom to brush her teeth and change out of her pajamas. A few minutes later she threaded her arms through the sleeves of her shirt and walked out of the bathroom to find Arizona waiting for her.

"Ready?" She asked, standing up and moving toward the door.

"Yep. As much as I'll ever be without coffee," Callie replied.

"Okay… OW!" Arizona stumbled, grabbing the edge of the bed for support but still ending up sprawled on the floor as a sharp pain seared through her knee. Above her, Arizona could see an amused grin flit across Callie's face. Stretching out a hand, the brunette pulled Arizona upright and glanced down at her knee.

"You okay?" She asked glancing down at her leg as Arizona blushed. "You seem to lose the ability to walk around that particular piece of furniture seeing as that's the second time you've walked straight into it."

"Ha ha," Arizona muttered still blushing a bright red as she remembered doing the exact same thing the night before.

"Hey, as long as you're completely okay, then you deserved it for pouring water on me." Callie opened the door, waiting for Arizona. "You ready?"

"Wait." Arizona straightened up and walked quickly over to Callie. Reaching up, Arizona hesitated for only a brief moment before she grinned and pulled Callie's lips down to meet hers. Trapping the brunette between her body and the door, Arizona felt Callie's hands tangle in her hair as she tilted her head and allowed the kiss to deepen. A few moments later Arizona leaned back with a cheery smile and a faint blush coloring her cheeks. "Now I'm ready."

* * *

Callie pulled on her scrub top in the makeshift changing room. Unlike the days previously, she kept her eyes fixed on the opposite wall, taking in every detail of the peeling wallpaper instead of letting her gaze wander. Of course she had never 'looked,' but after last night the energy between them was different. Somehow changing in the same room as her roommate is much easier than changing in the same room with a woman who she _might_ be dating. They hadn't really gotten that far yet, but still, changing… was awkward. Like changing before gym class in freshmen year.

"Hey Arizona?" Callie turned, expecting to see Arizona fully dressed. Instead, she turned to see Arizona standing with her back toward Callie, clad only in a bra and scrub pants. Callie gaped for a moment, letting her gaze travel over the blonde's figure briefly before realizing what she was doing and tearing her gaze away. "I'll meet you out there," she muttered, extremely conscious of the blush that had flooded her face.

"Huh?" Arizona looked over her shoulder, as she pulled her shirt on. She saw the door swing shut behind Callie and a flash of black hair disappear out into the main room of the clinic.

A small smirk played across Arizona's lips as she realized what had just happened. Despite what she had said earlier, Callie Torres, was definitely still a bit of a newborn… She couldn't help it and frankly Arizona didn't mind it because in other ways she was _definitely _**not **a newborn. The blonde shook her head, amused with her roommate's actions as she walked out of the bathroom, pretending that nothing awkward had happened.

However, contrary to what Arizona had expected, keeping their 'secret' wasn't easy. She was tactile, she liked PDA. Not the mushy, cringe worthy, making out inappropriately in public places kind, but the hand-holding, the very chaste greeting kisses, or just casual touching. But both her and Callie had decided that stirring up trouble at work was not in their best interests. They were here to work, first and foremost, and neither of them was willing to jeopardize that.

Callie watched from across the room as Arizona knelt down by one of her patient's bedside and gently coaxed the child into letting her suture up a nasty cut. As Arizona bent over the gash, stitching carefully, she kept talking reassuringly to the child, distracting her from the needle weaving in and out of her skin. It was something Callie wasn't accustomed to. The caring. She had the occasional conversation with her patients, often in between them crying out in pain because she was trying to twist their bone back into place or when they were so woozy on painkillers they barely made any sense. The most comforting she ever had been, was to say 'it won't hurt that badly,' or 'I'm going to count to three.'

Arizona looked up for a moment, her eyes meeting Callie's briefly as she offered the other woman a warm smile before turning back to the child who she was suturing. Callie reluctantly returned to charting, but the words in black ink listed across the page were much less interesting than staring, very discreetly of course, in Arizona's direction.

"Dr. Torres?" Isaac, looked uncertainly down at the woman who seemed to be charting but she hadn't answered him the last five times he had called her name. "Dr. Torres," he repeated, placing his hand on Callie's arm briefly.

"What?" Callie jerked up as if she had woken up from a daydream and looked up at Isaac in confusion. "Oh, sorry," she apologized. "I didn't get much sleep last night," she explained. Isaac raised an eyebrow, fixing her with a doubtful expression but saying nothing, "not like _that_!" Callie exclaimed before giving up on the conversation entirely and tossing the chart down on the table. "Uhm… is there something I can help you with?"

"Yes," he pointed to the bed by the far wall where a man was waiting with his leg supported by a pillow. "I think he fractured his ankle, could you take a look please?"

"Of course," Callie replied, glad to have to something to do other than stare across the room at a certain blonde. She pulled on a pair of gloves and hurried over to the man's bedside, stopping when he shrank away and mumbled something in a language Callie didn't understand.

Isaac had followed Callie to the man's bedside and he answered the man in the same language, saying something that made the man relax and nod at Callie.

"He was nervous," Isaac explained, "your appearance… you're not like most of the doctors here, granted there are only four."

Callie smiled and nodded in the man's direction, understanding Isaac's explanation. She was quickly able to see that this man would need a brace rather than a cast, and she asked Isaac to explain the procedure to him. He once again conversed with the man in the same language, but this time the man seemed adamant. He kept shaking his head and motioning down at his foot.

"He says he can't use a brace. He lives in a village a few miles away and he walks down to the main town area everyday to work. He needs you to fix it now." Even Isaac looked doubtful, but Callie shook her head.

"Even if I did perform surgery, there is no quick fix… Wait, how did he get here?" She asked and Isaac repeated her question to the man.

"He says he walked," Isaac replied as the man shrugged.

"He walked?" Isaac nodded, Callie glanced in her patient's direction once more before nodding to him. "Tell him to wait a few minutes."

She pulled out the meager supply of leg braces the clinic had in the supply closet and picked out the only one that would allow the man to walk without needing to rely completely on crutches.

She held up the brace as she returned, motioning to Isaac. "Could you please tell him, that with this brace he could walk provided he didn't put too much weight on his leg or try to go too fast?" Isaac nodded and relayed the message.

"He says, he wants you to show him," the man watched Callie from the bed with narrowed eyes.

"Show him?"

"Yes."

"Like… put on the brace?" Callie asked in disbelief and Isaac nodded with something akin to amusement flashing in his brown eyes. Callie cast one last glance in her patient's direction, before settling herself down in a chair by his bedside and pulling off one of her shoes. She strapped the brace onto one of her feet, being careful to show him how to fasten it tightly. Carefully, Callie stood up and took a few experimental steps.

The man seemed to deliberate for a few seconds before he nodded and murmuring something to Isaac.

"He says he will do it." Isaac said, as Callie gratefully sat down and began pulling off the brace.

Callie put her shoe back on, before she moved to the man's bedside to strap the brace onto his foot. Out of the corner of her eye, Callie saw Arizona standing a few feet away her arms crossed over her chest as she watched Callie. She looked _very_ amused. Blushing furiously Callie strapped the brace onto the man's leg, trying to keep her steady. She could feel that Arizona's blue eyes were still on her and she tried desperately to keep the blush off of her face.

"All done," Callie had asked Isaac to explain that he needed to keep the brace on for three weeks, and to try not to get it wet. She had also offered the man crutches but he had refused, instead standing up and wincing slightly but walking steadily toward the door. He placed a hand on her arm before he left and nodded to her once, murmured something in that language Callie didn't understand. The gesture, however was universal, and she smiled back.

"You're welcome," she replied, earning simply a nod before he turned and walked back out of the clinic. Callie hurried back over to the bed, tidying up quickly in case another patient needed the bed. After throwing away the wrapping from the brace, she turned to Isaac to thank him for translating the man's conversation.

"That was a good thing you did," he answered her steadily before offering her a hesitant smile. Callie returned the gesture and resolved to try to learn a few words of the language.

"Hey!" Arizona appeared behind Callie, tapping her on the shoulder before retreating to a distance that she deemed would be considered 'friendly.' Callie jumped slightly dropping the bundle of cause she had been carrying before turning around to face Arizona.

"Hi," she picked up the gauze from the floor and looked up at Arizona.

"I was thinking… You know… Normal people, who aren't… _you know… _Eat lunch, don't they?" She asked, a teasing glint her eyes.

"I believe they do… friends eat lunch together all the time," Callie answered immediately catching on with what Arizona was implying.

"Then… want to go get lunch with me? Since we are such good friends and all," Arizona beamed and Callie nodded, holding up the gauze.

"Sure, let me just go put this back in the supply closet. Okay?" Arizona nodded, watching for a few seconds as Callie walked toward the supply closet before jolting herself out of the inappropriate thoughts she had been having involving Callie _and herself_ in a supply closet and going to look for Kopano.

* * *

"I actually have no idea where to get food around here," Arizona admitted, walking beside the brunette, again at a _friendly _distance. It was all Arizona could do to restrain herself from holding Callie's hand. She felt like a teenager all over again. Great.

"We've eaten lunch together before," Callie pointed out, "But, mostly I've brought lunch with me… You?"

"Same," Arizona dipped her head in agreement. "But because we were so _late _this morning," she mock-glared at Callie. "I didn't have time to grab lunch from downstairs."

"I think there's a stand that sells… something in front of were we stay." Callie deliberately ignored Arizona's jab at her lateness, she had been subjected to being woken up by having water poured on her head. She had suffered enough. "We're in a pretty rural area here… I don't think we'll be able to find much in the way of restaurants."

"There's a small store a few streets that way," Callie pointed up one of the dirt roads. "That's where John gets all the food to feed his wonderful, enthusiastic volunteers."

Fifteen minutes later, they had found lunch material in the grocery store, or what was really a room with a few shelves of food. Arizona had grabbed a bag of some sort of chips while Callie had found some fruit and a pastry. Walking back toward the clinic, Callie stilled when Arizona grabbed her hand and pulled away from the direction of the clinic.

"Just for a few minutes, I don't want to have to hide," she explained leading Callie down a side street and off down a dirt path until she sat down under a tree.

After they had divided up the fruit and chips they leaned against the tree and ate their makeshift lunch in silence for a few minutes.

"I don't know anything about you," Callie stated, out of the blue, as she munched on a chip, which had turned out to be surprisingly good.

"I don't anything about you either," Arizona replied, grinning mischievously as Callie chuckled. "Except, of course, that you are thirty four, and you work at Seattle Grace."

"Then I get to go first," Callie replied, reaching out and stealing another chip as she reclined against the tree.

"Go first?"

"Ask the first question," Callie explained.

"Okay," Arizona paused, eyeing Callie for a moment before she nodded. "Shoot."

"I'll start you off easy… What's your favorite… food?"

"Pizza," Arizona answered immediately. "Chicago has _really _good pizza. Okay, my turn," Callie gestured for Arizona to continue and Arizona furrowed her brow. "What's your favorite color?"

"Blue," Callie replied. "My turn-"

"Why blue?" Arizona insisted, smirking.

"You want me to explain my favorite color?" Callie asked but Arizona only nodded, scrutinizing her intently. "Fine." Callie paused for a moment. "The scrubs at Seattle Grace are blue. When it's not cloudy, maybe three days a year, the sky is blue. The front door of my apartment, and the house I grew up in were both blue… I like like... blue." She eyed Arizona teasingly. "Satisfied?" Callie had left out that Arizona's eyes were a piercing blue. But, that was cheesy, she had decided.

"Yep. Ask away."

"Now for a hard question… Where did you grow up?"

Arizona grinned, "that's a hard question? Please. I grew up all over the place, I was an army brat. But I was born in Seattle, so I suppose that's where I'm from."

"Seattle?" Callie, look incredulously at Arizona. "Seriously?"

"Yep. I was born in Mercy West Hospital, but we moved away when I was two, I don't remember it at all."

Callie snorted, "Mercy West, huh?"

"Hey! Don't knock the hospital where I was born," Arizona grumbled, amused by the bizarre rivalry between the two competing hospitals.

"The fact that you were born there might be Mercy West's only redeeming quality. We merged with them last year. I thought our residents were annoying but the Mercy Westers, were on a different level." Arizona blushed slightly as she laughed at Callie's seriousness.

This game of question and answer continued for another fifteen minutes. Arizona learned that Callie's favorite food was Mint Chip ice cream, (Arizona had told her that didn't count as a food but Callie had denied that), that she grew up in a large family in Miami. She had also heard about Cristina Yang, and Mark Sloan. Callie had deliberately left out her ex-husband, George, who had died barely a two years ago and the fact she was heir to a rather large trust fund. In turn, she had learned about Arizona's family, one sister, one brother, her father a colonel in the army and her mother, a nurse. Arizona had been brief about her family and Callie didn't press the subject, instead she learned that the blonde favorite animals were chickens, and that she was thirty five years old.

After recovered from a laughing fit hat resulted from Callie trying to explain Cristina's personality in a way that didn't make her sound like a robot or a complete jerk, Arizona checked her watch.

"Dang it, we've got to head back to the clinic. I told Kopano we'd only be gone for forty minutes." They stood up, grabbing the remnants of their lunch and dusting themselves off.

"I liked not having to hide," Callie said with a small smile that Arizona returned.

"Yeah," Arizona checked her watch again as a grin teased across her lips. "And, I bet we could 'not hide' for another few minutes."

"Very cheesy," Callie murmured as she snaked her arms around Arizona's waist and the blonde's hands wove around her neck, tangling in her hair. "But I like it."

* * *

They walked into the clinic ten minutes later, immediately slipping back into their routine of 'friendliness.' Arizona held the door open for Callie with a smirk and they walked back inside to find Kopano on the phone murmuring something urgently into the receiver. When they walked in, he looked up and he looked relieved immediately.

"It's John," he passed the phone to Callie who nodded, expecting it to merely be him checking in on them.

Arizona watched as the color drained from Callie's face and her expression turned more and more bleak. Handing the phone back to Kopano, she turned toward Arizona.

"We have to go."

* * *

**A/N: Soooooo thoughts?**

**I made this chapter long to make up for last chapter :) Also, I don't think people who reviewed last chapter nine can review this chapter again but you, I appreciate whatever reviews I get. Sorry for the wait guys :)**


	10. Fires

**A/N: Soooo, this is written from Callie's and Arizona's POVs just for... a change of pace... I guess... I wanted to try it out since I haven't written that way in a hwile but next chapter will be back to normal. On a random note... the exam is over so... I'm going to try to update this weekend. **

**This chapter is a bit heavy, but the end is happier. That's for all of the reviews last chapter :) Hope you enjoy. P.s. it's chapter ten, yay for double digits. **

**Lyrics are 'Little Pieces' by Gomez**

**

* * *

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**New History**

**Chapter Ten: Fires**

**(Callie's POV)**

I felt her come up beside me as I numbly handed the phone back to Kopano. Her worried blue eyes scanned my face for some clue toward the haunting few words of conversation that were still echoing in my ears. She fixed me with a fearful glance, attempting to read my features but she still hadn't uttered word. After a tension-ridden silence, Kopano handed me a battered set of keys, indicating with an outstretched finger the larger key the obviously led to some sort of car.

"You two can take the jeep. He didn't want any of us to come and help also, did he?" I shook my head, accepting the keys with a grateful, although small smile.

"There's a trauma coming, and the clinic is open for another few hours," I shook my head. "We'll be fine. From what I understand there's people already on the scene." Beside me I could feel Arizona stiffen at the word 'scene' and I almost reached out to grab her hand. Key word, almost. We still had the 'friends' pretense to uphold. Out of their line of sight, her hand rested on the small of my back as she waited for me to explain the sudden change in mood and the mysterious disaster. I should've inched away, but the small connection between us kept me going. As if through that simple touch she was lending me strength. Now, I was going officially crazy, but I still didn't move away.

Kopano nodded as I motioned to Arizona to follow me outside of the clinic. As soon as the door shut behind us, I felt her fingers close around the fabric of my jacket as she pulled me to a stop just around the corner from the front entrance.

"What happened Calliope?" She asked softly, but and undercurrent of urgency marred her normally cheerful voice.

"There was a fire." Moving on instinct I reached out and grabbed her hand, twining our fingers together and bringing them down between us as I led her at almost a run toward the car. She didn't pull away. I heard a sharp intake of breath and her eyes widened but she gave my hand a reassuring squeeze. We continued half running, half walking quickly, a new urgency defining the pace as if we were headed toward the OR.

"Please tell me it wasn't serious," she begged as we ran and my mind flashed back to the day among the rocks when Tim had fractured his leg. Her blue eyes burned into mine as a twinge of fear swirled in their depths.

"They… they were at a school," I admitted and her grip tightened, vice like, around my hand. Her mouth opened slightly as shock flitted across her expression before her mouth curved down into a grip line. She gave a sharp little nod, stirring the blonde curls that framed her face.

We reached the car, it was the only car behind the cluster of run down buildings, sitting isolated between the faded white lines of the parking lot. I wrenched the door open to the driver side as Arizona nimbly climbed in beside me and snapped her seatbelt into place. I jammed the keys into the ignition, shoving my foot against the gas pedal with slightly more force that was necessary but she didn't seem to mind. Her blue eyes were fixed firmly on the road into front of us as I pushed past the non-existent speed limits.

The school was maybe five or six miles outside of town, but as for me, the car couldn't get there fast enough.

"How bad?" She asked after a few minutes of tense silence. I could see the anxiety in her posture, in her speech. Her fingers twisted in the fabric of her scrub pants and her mouth was still set firmly in that unfamiliar grimace.

"Bad." I answered softly, roughly guiding the jeep around a curve in the road. "He couldn't talk much, but… from what I head…" My voice trailed off and she nodded, crossing her arms over her chest and remaining painfully silent for the rest of the car ride.

We pulled up a few minutes later, amid a mess of other cars. Uniformed people swarmed the site, stretchers were everywhere and the dirt was littered with discarded bandages and burnt rubble. The school had been reduced to nothing more than a pile of charred remains. Through the crowd I saw John, barking orders through his megaphone and a mess of volunteers scrabbling around to the different stretchers and attempting to administer medicine.

When I turned, Arizona was already out of the car. She was walking hurriedly toward the scene, her back ramrod straight as she tied her hair up into a messy ponytail.

* * *

**(Callie POV Cont'd)**

I could see her through the rubble of the burnt schoolhouse. She was always moving, kneeling down to talk to the children or desperately bending over bodies burnt beyond recognition but trying to breath life into them anyway. I was constantly in motion also, but I always knew where she was. Whenever I felt like I was going to collapse from the enormity of it all, crumble under the weight of the horrible situation smoking before me, my eyes always found her within an instant, working tirelessly and she gave _me_ life.

The volunteers, led by John had been working in a school that day. It had been s small, one room school with probably no more than twenty students but the fire had spread to the rest of the close quartered village, wrecking havoc in mere minutes.

There where bodies everywhere, there were people walking around with bandaged arms and legs looking for lost family members and there charred shapes that I knew I should help to indentify but I couldn't bring myself to look at too closely. I concentrated me efforts on the living, setting a broken bone where I found one but mostly focusing on trying to save people whose every nerve had been ripped open and exposed because someone was foolish enough to try to start a fire and drop the match into the scrub brush surrounding the school. Maybe they thought it had been put out, it only would take a small spark or faint ember to start the blaze in this dry area.

I stood up, after five hours of working through the mass of victims, expecting to see order, or at least less terror and pain swarming across the field. I didn't, through my eyes it looked the exact same as it had when we arrived. Then I found her. She was kneeling next to a little boy, her blonde hair tied back into a messy ponytail and that infallible smile creasing her lips as he let her sew up a cut on his upper arm. She looked across the field toward me, and I saw the same pain mirrored in her eyes before she tore her gaze away and forced the smile back over her lips.

"Callie!" Sam walked up beside me, one of his arms bandaged and a large cut having just been sewed up across his forehead, but he looked oddly energetic. He managed a wave with his free hand before motioning behind him and guiding a little girl toward me.

"Hey Sam," I replied tiredly, brushing a tangle of hair out of my face. I worked the grimace off of my face and knelt down in front of the little girl who was now clutching Sam's hand in a vice like grip. She had a long, thin cut extending up her forearm that was leaking blood down to her wrist and I looked to her for tacit permission before gingerly reaching out and inspecting the wound.

"Does she need stitches?" He asked, "I know Arizona's the PEDs surgeon but she looked busy, so…"

Despite myself, I allowed the ghost of a smirk to tug at the corners of my mouth. "It's okay, I may not be PEDs but I can do stitches just fine," I reassured them both before guiding the little girl over to the area where the suture kits had been left stacked up into a box.

"I'm going to need to numb the area," I cautioned her, as I gently injected the pain medicine into the area around the cut. She grimaced at first but as the numb feeling spread across the appendage she looked down at her arm in wonder. "Cool huh?" I asked as I prepared the needle.

She nodded, reaching out her other hand to touch her arm, her eyes going wide when she felt no sensation on her skin.

"Hey!" I teasingly brushed her other hand away, "no poking," she smiled, but looked embarrassed as she tucked her other hand behind her back.

"So," I tried to distract her as I began carefully suturing. "Do you go to school… here?"

She nodded, "yes," she replied in halting English. "My parents are coming to pick me up soon." She declared with childish delight despite the fact that I was currently sewing her skin back together.

"They are huh?" I asked and she nodded again. Wait. My breath caught in my chest and for an instant my needle paused above her skin. "Uhm… what time are they coming?"

"Soon, we live right over there." She pointed to one of the small houses that had remained miraculously untouched by the fire. "They were going to visit one of their friends in the morning, before I went to school."

"That's cool," I kept my voice calm, hoping against hope that her parents hadn't somehow gotten caught in the fire. "Do you know where they were going?"

"Somewhere over there," my heart clenched as she pointed over toward the area of houses that had been reduced to ashes. Maybe she didn't realize, maybe she was in shock. The little girl couldn't be more than four or five so maybe she didn't realize that almost everyone in those homes had died.

"Well, you're all fixed up," I declared, my voice trembled as I wound a bandage around her upper arm. "Here, you're going to wait over here with these guys," I gestured toward the group of medics and a smaller group of children standing off to the side. "Until… until your parents… get here…" I led her over to the group, she relinquished her grip on my hand, running over to a group of two boys who were obviously her friends. In some ways I envied their oblivion, however, it was about to be shattered.

* * *

**(Arizona POV)**

It seemed endless. Find someone. Fix them. Move on. Oddly it was similar to the process in the OR. Cut. Suture. Close. I have no idea how I did it, usually I have a hard time when I lose one of my patients back at the hospital but today… today I lost at least five kids but I had to force myself to get back up, dust myself off, shove their faces out of my minds and move on.

We were nearing the end. I could feel it, as I picked my way around the rubble of the burnt schoolhouse and the burnt remains of the surrounding village. Abruptly, John's megaphone burst stridently through the eerie quiet that had settled over the destroyed area. He was calling us all together, toward the center of the field, off to the side away from the groups of children who were just starting to realize, what had happened.

"Volunteers," he yelled through the loudspeaker. "Gather up please." Somehow, I felt like he was disturbing something. He wouldn't bring that infernal megaphone to a funeral, would he? This felt like a gravesite, this felt like a place to tread lightly, and speak respectfully, not blast through the grounds on a megaphone. I saw Callie across the field, standing with Sam and walked toward her.

"Hey," I murmured quietly, standing close to her, drawing a simple comfort from her presence.

"Hey," she replied, with a tired sigh. Neither of us could manage a smile, we were too exhausted and emotionally wrecked to try to force a pretense.

"So…" John spoke through his megaphone again, echoing across the field. I stiffened beside Callie, my hands clenching into fists in my pockets. "We need to gather up and head back to camp… I know some of you are injured, but we're going to head down to the clinic for any injuries. Also, I'm we're meeting as a group tonight in the dorm building…" The megaphone shut off with and audible click as the crowd began to disperse.

Sam muttered a goodbye that Callie barely returned and the group walked slowly off of the field. I still felt stirrings of anger twisting in my stomach, I had absolutely no idea why but as I tightened and un-tightened my clenched hands in my pockets I felt a hand tentatively rest on my back, as Callie wrapped an arm around my shoulders.

The spark of anger dimmed slightly as she pulled me into a hug, as someone had sucked all the oxygen away from a candle she drained the anger out of my body with a hug, leaving only wave after wave of pain. The rest of the volunteers were walking away from us, their backs turned in our direction but at the small moment, I couldn't care less. Wrapping my arms around her waist, I nestled my head into the crook of her neck, pushing the boundaries of a 'friendly hug.'

She placed a light kiss on the top of my head, her hands tracing lines up as down my back as I held her. Slowly she pulled away, stroking my cheek for an instant before stepping away. To my surprise, she reached down and grabbed my hand, tangling our fingers together and walking beside me.

I tried to avert my gaze from the group of children waiting with the medical volunteers and professionals but I still saw them. One little girl waved to Callie, her still arm covered in a bandage. I heard Callie's breath shudder as she returned the little's girl's have, her grip tightening on my hand.

"Her parents died." Callie remarked sadly as we arrived at the jeep. "I checked. They were going to pick her up at noon but they died, in that house," Callie pointed across the field at the pile of ash indistinguishable from the rest. "And she doesn't even know."

"I'm sure they'll be fine," I tried to be comforting but even I didn't believe myself.

"Do you really believe that?" she asked softly as we sat in the front seats of the jeep, staring out at the destruction before us.

"I don't know," I replied and she nodded sadly before jamming the key into the ignition and starting the car.

* * *

**(Arizona's POV cot'd)**

After John's 'group meeting' Callie and I trudged back to our room, barely making it up the stairs in our exhaustion. I collapsed on my bed the minute the door opened, burying my face into the pillow and letting myself relax for the first time since we had arrived at that schoolhouse. It seemed like a lifetime ago that Calliope and I had sat under a tree and eaten lunch together but it had been mere hours.

"You okay?" Callie's voice drifted in my direction from her bed a few feet away from mine. My exhaustion was mirrored in her tone but I also heard concern and despite the ordeal that made my heart swell in my chest.

"I'm okay," I murmured sadly, twisting among the covers to I was laying on my side and I could see her across the room.

"I'm not." She replied bluntly with a mirthless, dry laugh.

"Me either," I sighed fidgeting with the edge of the thin blankets. "It should get easier, but it doesn't… you know?"

"Being a surgeon…" Callie paused thoughtfully, "facing death everyway the way we do, it doesn't prepare us for that… Seeing that kind of thing, should never get easier." She replied softly, staring up at the ceiling.

"I wish it did… I'm almost jealous of all those people, like John, Tim and Sam… They're wrecked because of what they saw… They won't ever forget it… but for me… it almost feels normal. Like I'm getting so used to this horrible feeling… I don't _want _to be used to something like that." Tears sprung unbidden into the corners of my eyes and I rubbed them away with an embarrassed blush. I sounded like a depressed teenager… mature.

"But they, don't do what we do." Callie replied, turning her warm, brown-eyed gaze in my direction. "At the risk of sounding like I have a major superiority complex, they don't save lives everyday the way we do. We face death, with a scalpel, and for us seeing death like that is…. More normal… but we get to save people. That's a sacrifice I'm willing to make." I turned toward her again, marveling at the clear way she saw things, both admiring and wishing for that type of clear, confidant clarity.

"Do you ever regret coming?" I asked softly, "after seeing what we say today.. do you ever regret it?"

"Sometimes," she answered, taking me by surprise. "I was in South America before this, working in a few schools along with helping in a medical practice. I saw some awful things, I'm not going to lie, but the people I was able to help or even to learn from… far outweighed all the bad. I still felt all of the bad, and the pain, and the sadness, but I can reconcile myself with than when I see the good."

"Hold on," she stood up, abruptly, digging something out of her bag before holding out her hand toward me. Gingerly I took it, standing up beside her with a very confused expression gracing my features. "I'm going to show you what my roommate taught me what to do when things just… suck… Of course her way involved tequila, but we don't have any…"

"Uhm… I thought you told me your roommate was a emotionally stunted sociopath?" I recounted, growing more nervous by the minute.

"She had her moments,: Callie replied with a small smile as she pulled an Ipod out of her bag.

"You brought you Ipod… to Africa?"

"Don't judge me," she laughed, thumbing the track pad and selecting a song. "I need music sometimes… it helps."

I nodded, I guess music was her… donuts… "So… what's this… plan of yours?"

"We saw something horrible today. When that happens at work, my roommate and I… we dance."

I raised an eyebrow, backing away. "Dance?"

"Yeah," the pulled me closer to her, handing me one of her Ipod head phones. "We dance. It's a good escape, for a few minutes…"' She began to move her hips to the music, watching me with a teasing expression. As the chorus exploded through the head phones she threw her hands up into the air and mouthed the words to the song. Despite the fact I normally hate dancing, with a passion, she pulled me close into her body, placed her hands on my hips and guided me movements in time to the music.

A huge smile lit up her expression that was mirrored on my on lips as I slowly began to dance. Letting the soft rhythm of the song flush my mind of the terrible images from the schoolyard, the villages and the burnt, destroyed field.

So, we danced it out. We danced to forget for a few minutes that some of those kids wouldn't have parents anymore, that life for them would never be the same after today. But also, I danced because sometimes… we save people, and sometimes that's enough.

* * *

**There's a piece of me you can't have **  
**And I know it's driving you mad **  
**There's a part inside you can't reach **  
**I'm afraid that's the way its gonna be **  
**There's a part of you that wants to fight **  
**But I never really had the appetite **  
**I fear my feelings wont speak **  
**words are already taken upon the breeze **  
**wind is always blowing **

**pieces falling from me **  
**you can have them for free **  
**now it felt so complete **  
**pieces falling from me**

**A/N: I think I prefer writing without perspective... so next chapter is back to that XD**

** I think this story is getting a little bit... off... I dunno. I'm going to try to develop their relationship with their fellow volunteers so there can be more Calzona together, instead of just at their dorm room... what do you guys think?**

**Review.. pretty please?**


	11. Addicted

**A/N: So this was REALLY fast guys... XD but this is pretty much all fluffy goodness as my way of apologizing for keeping From a Whisper to a Scream so angst-filled. **

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* * *

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**New History**

**Chapter Eleven: Addicted **

_**It's like I can't breathe  
It's like I can't see anything  
Nothing but you  
I'm addicted to you  
It's like I can't think  
Without you interrupting me  
In my thoughts  
In my dreams  
You've taken over me  
It's like I'm not me  
It's like I'm not me**_

_**-'Addicted' by Kelly Clarkson**_

**(Four or Five days after last chapter)**

"Are you excited?" Arizona inquired with her infallible charm as she packed her backpack. Shoving an extra t-shirt haphazardly into her bag and effectively filling it to bursting point, Arizona gave a sharp nod and forced the zipper shut; satisfied she had packed enough. Callie, on the other hand, was laying languidly across her bed, one iPod headphone dangling off the side of the mattress as her fingers tapped out a muted beat against the sheets. Her eyes were shut, and Arizona noticed that her backpack was laying on the floor by the door, unpacked.

"Callie!" Arizona tried again, raising her voice and finally catching the brunette's attention. Callie pushed a button on her iPod and pulled the headphone out of her ear before fixing the blonde with a guilty stare.

"Yeah?" Callie replied, sitting upright and stuffing her iPod behind her back.

"I asked if you were excited…" Arizona smirked as she lugged her backpack toward the doorway and dropped it by the wall.

"Oh… totally," Callie fell back against the sheets, letting out a sigh.

"I'm sorry but," Arizona moved over to the bed, flopping down next to the brunette. "You're not very convincing."

"I don't _like _hiking, it's not my thing." Callie complained with a pout. "It's boring, right, left, right, left… ugh."

"I thought you said your friend… Mark, used to drag you hiking all the time?" Arizona inquired, subtly slipping closer to the brunette until she was practically on top of Callie.

"Key word: dragged," Callie replied with a smug smirk. However, that smirk dissolved off of her face as Arizona began placing a line of butterfly kisses down Callie's neck, tracing past her collarbone. The blonde's fingers danced along the waistband of her jeans, with one hand moving dangerously high under the fabric of her shirt. "You know what?" Callie gasped. "Maybe we shouldn't go… just… stay in here."

"Nope." Arizona refused with small grin as she pulled away, eliciting a groan from the brunette beneath her. "Because, if we don't go, we don't get to share a tent." Arizona finished with one long kiss against Callie's lips before she jumped off of the bed, returning with Callie's backpack.

"Here," she held out the empty bag. "Pack, we have half an hour."

"You're surprisingly bossy," Callie commented, reaching out and grabbed the empty bag from Arizona's outstretched hand with a defeated sigh.

"You like it." Callie shrugged, acknowledging the obvious as she grabbed a few random items of clothing out of the small chest of drawers and set the bag back on the floor.

"This is stupid." Callie said after a few minutes of packing and trying to ignore Arizona who was sitting next to her and invaded Callie's senses with the smell of her smapoo.

"C'mon, we're Team Awesome! We hike!" Arizona tried but Callie just shook her head.

"You _need _to stop saying that." Callie replied with a laugh as she returned to packing, leaving a pouting Arizona to contemplate how she was going to force Callie to accept that they simply were 'Team Awesome.'

"I'm finished packing," Callie declared a few minutes later as she wound her arms around Arizona's waist. Arizona just shook her head, extricating herself from Callie's embrace and grabbing the bag.

"You packed three pairs of underwear, one sock, and a pair of what looks like gym shorts… As much as I would _enjoy _seeing you hike through the wilderness in nothing but underwear, I don't think the rest of the volunteers would appreciate it… Well… Actually I think they would appreciate it, _a lot…" _Arizona's voice trailed off, for a moment caught up in an odd but tempting vision of Callie hiking in underwear… As Callie watched, amused, she snapped back to focus._ " _They would appreciate it too much…so… no." Arizona handed the bag back with a cheery smile.

"I'm starting to not like the bossy so much," Callie grouched as she set about packing actual, functional items of clothing that wouldn't involve her 'strip-hiking' much to Arizona's delight.

"Liar." Arizona reached around Callie, searching among the messy blankets for a moment before she returned triumphant, clutching Callie's iPod.

"Hey-" Callie protested but Arizona placed a finger across her lips, teasingly slipping the device into the back pocket of her shorts. Shorts that, Callie had noticed, exposed a pair of mouth-wateringly long legs, belonging to a certain blonde who was now watching Callie ogle her legs with an amused grin.

"You can have this back, once you're finished packing." Arizona declared, backing away to the other side of the room and setting down onto her bed to flip through her roommate's playlist. She could hear a string of muffled Spanish curses flowing from across the room where Callie was stuffing seemingly random objects of clothing into the bag.

Gomez, well that was obvious. Callie had played that song through the earphones when she had taught Arizona to 'dance it out.' Arizona scrolled past the familiar bands, venturing into a long song list and hoping to divine something about Callie herself from her musical taste. There was an eclectic mix of music spanning several creatively named playlists such as:

_Callie Good Mood._

_Callie Bad Mood._

_Drown out C and O UNF_

_Meredith's Playlist_

_Why Do I have To Make a Playlist Callie? This is Dumb._(Cristina's colorful message didn't even fit on the screen but the rolling text displayed all of the words, eliciting a giggle from the blonde.)

_Bailey__. _(Callie had coerced Bailey into making a playlist, on a slow day in the ER)

_Running/Gym_

_Lexie and Mark forever_ (The playlist having been made by the former.)

_McSteamy _(Mark had originally typed something very different and XXX rated here before Callie had tactfully replaced it.)

_Surgery_

The last one caught Arizona's eye, and she looked up from the small screen at the brunette who was debating between two pairs of shorts and mumbling to herself.

"You listen to music during surgery?" Arizona asked curiously, holding up the iPod as means of explanation for her random question.

"Oh," Callie blushed slightly. "Yeah, I play it through the speakers in the ORs."

"That's a super idea," Arizona exclaimed eagerly scrolling through Callie's playlist of hard rock songs she listened while in surgery.

"It helps me relax, oddly enough." Callie looked a bit surprised by Arizona's reaction but the hint of a smile creased her lips as she watched the blonde looking through the songs on her iPod. "So, have you learned anything about me?"

"Huh?" Arizona looked up, dropping the iPod back down onto the mattress and crawling foreword to lie on her stomach facing the brunette.

"From my iPod. Did you learn anything about me?"

"Loads." Arizona smirked.

"Such as?"'

"Oh… You have very noisy roommates," Arizona coughed, "I'm guessing during the nighttime hours. You go to the gym… you have three High School Musical songs and about thirty five Lady Gaga songs, and you have a lot of friends."

"I have a lot of friends?" Callie asked with a bemused smirk, "how did you get that from my music?"

"All of them made playlists on here," Arizona explained.

"Oh." Callie turned back to her backpack, stuffing the last few articles of clothing before heading into the bathroom to grab her toothbrush. "You can make a playlist too," Callie's head poked out from around the bedroom door. "If you want."

"Awesome," Arizona bounced up and down on the bedspread. Soon there was another addition to Callie's sizable collection of playlists.

_Team Awesome in Africa_

"Okay!" Callie held up her backpack proudly as she stuffed the clothes she had decided not to bring into her side of the dresser. "I have officially finished packing, with," Callie checked the alarm clock by the bedside. "Three minutes to spare."

"Three minutes huh?" Arizona stuffed the iPod back into her back pocket, wandering over to stand in front of the brunette.

"Three whole… looong minutes," Callie replied with a smirk as Arizona's hands wound around her waist, pulling their bodies close together as Arizona leaned up to capture Callie's lips. Stealthily, Callie ran her hands down Arizona's back, stopping at the line of her shorts before reaching into one of the pockets.

A few moments later, Callie pulled away, holding her iPod before Arizona with a gleeful grin and walking away to grab her backpack.

"Tease," Arizona muttered under her breath as she grabbed her own backpack and treaded her arms through the straps.

"You started it." Callie grinned at Arizona's frustrated appearance before heading down the stairs with the blonde quickly following her"

* * *

"Everyone here?" John yelled, for once without his megaphone. "Okay. Good. So, most of you know, today we're hiking. There's a small-ish village about fifteen miles away, that's not accessible by car. Kopano, one of the doctors from the clinic requested we go out there to check on a few things, so were going to make the trip in two days." Callie groaned but received a sharp nudge in the side from Arizona who was standing next to her, looking very excited.

"Everyone has tents, and all the materials I asked you to pack, right?" all the volunteers nodded and John clapped his hands. "Okay, then. We're off." He began walking purposefully off down the dirt road toward a few lows hills in the distance with a scattered covering of trees.

Sam fell into step beside the two surgeons as they began walking, Callie already falling into the dreaded rhythm of right, left, right, left and Arizona chatted away aimlessly beside her.

"How are things going with Joshua?" Arizona asked, referring to Sam's less than friendly roommate that both woman had had the pleasure of meeting on the first night.

"Eh." Sam shrugged. "He's grouchy most of the time, but he's harmless."

Arizona nodded, the corner of her mouth quirking up into a smile as the three of them walked side by side, slightly behind the rest of the group.

"How about you two?" Sam asked casually, "How's roommate life?"

Callie coughed loudly, stumbling a few feet foreword while Arizona maintained her composure slightly better than her 'roommate.'

"We get along _really _well," Arizona replied with an easy smile. Behind Sam's back Arizona brushed against Callie's back, teasing the brunette as she shivered unconsciously under Arizona's touch.

"Uhm… yeah… We make good roommates, no… complaints." Callie stumbled, blushing furiously and reached behind her to pull Arizona's hand away from her back, shooting the blonde a frustrated glare. Arizona appeared, wide-eyed and innocent, flashing Callie a dimpled smile.

After two hours of walking, they had actually found an escape from the baking sun as they walked through lush grass under the cover of a heavy tree line. It was just past one and John decided to stop and allow the volunteers a rest, breaking out the small, light lunches they had packed.

Arizona dragged Callie to a patch of grass in the sun, sitting down and peeling back the wrapper on her sandwich as Callie followed her. They ate in silence for a while, sitting side by side as many of the volunteer pairs wandered off to look for places to sit and eat for half an hour. Arizona reclined on the grass, stretching out so her back pressed against the cool grass. Callie watched, eating the last few bits of her sandwich as Arizona circles on Callie's free hand while trying to discern shapes in the sparse clouds.

"There! That one looks like… a muffin…" Arizona pointed to a cloud that from that distance appeared no bigger than a quarter.

"What on earth are you talking about?" Callie asked, shifting so she was laying beside Arizona on the ground.

"The cloud!" Arizona pointed, grabbing Callie's hand and guiding it toward the tiny whips of white against the blue sky.

"I definitely don't see a muffin."

"What do you see then?" Arizona replied, pouting slightly as Callie concentrated on the cloud.

"I see a cloud Arizona," Callie answered after a few minutes, a teasing lilt to her tone.

"C'mon Callie, have some imagination."

"Okay then, what other shapes do you see?" Callie gestured toward the sky, and Arizona directed her gaze intently on the horizon. There was one larger cloud, and a few scattered smaller ones decorating the blue expanse.

"That big one looks like a horse." Arizona announced, pointing to a large clouds directly over their heads. "And that one over there," she pointed to a much smaller one. "Looks like a baseball."

"I can maybe see the horse," Callie admitted, twining their fingers together against the grass. "But a baseball? That's just round.. it could be any ball…"

"That's where the imagination comes in," Arizona explained with a childish grin.

"You realize how utterly cliché we are right now?" Callie asked, reluctant to admit that she really couldn't see anything in the clouds.

"How so?" Arizona asked, propped herself up on one elbow and turned her blue eyes toward Callie.

"We're sort of dating, and we are sitting looking at shapes in the clouds. It's in… every romantic comedy ever."

Arizona snorted, making sure no one was watching before placing a quick kiss on Callie's lips. "You watch too much television."

"Still," Callie insisted.

"It's a cliché for a reason," Arizona settled back down onto the grass, placing one hand behind her head. "Admit it, seeing baseballs and horses is much more interesting that seeing fluffy white things."

"I don't actually see-"

"Hey… uhm… What are you guys doing?" Ellen, one of the older volunteers who Callie had never really talked to had walked over, looking at them with a mixture of suspicion and curiosity.

"Oh." Arizona quickly released Callie's hand and sat up on the grass. "Nothing, just looking at the clouds."

"Yeah… that's all… cloud watching…" Callie murmured, trying her best to look innocent, she wasn't sure what 'crime' she had committed, but she still tried to look innocent.

"Oh, well John says we're leaving in five minutes." Ellen shrugged, waved and walked away back toward the group. Callie stood up, dusting herself off as Arizona did the same. Arizona leaned up, brushing her lips against Callie's ear and whispering quietly.

"You are a horrible liar." She muttered in the brunette's ear, walking foreword and back to the group with a suggestive grin, leaving Callie to stare open-mouthed at the blonde's retreating form for a few seconds before regaining her senses.

* * *

After another four hours, Callie officially hated hiking with a passion. Arizona seemed to remain unaffected by the blazing heat and the mileage they had covered, while Callie's only real glint of hope was that darkness was starting to fall so they _must_ be stopping soon.

Arizona hummed to herself nonchalantly as they walked, trying to keep her eyes from the brunette beside her. It was rather hard to keep from staring, and drooling when Callie's was walking beside her, in shorts and a tank top and Arizona had to stop herself numerous times as her thoughts drifted to inappropriate places. All conversation had stopped among the volunteers and Callie and Arizona made up the rear of the group, keeping up just barely.

"Look!" Arizona stopped in her tracks, catching Callie's arm and pointing to a tree a few feet in front of them.

"Huh?" Callie mumbled as Arizona pulled her foreword, walking extremely quietly and carefully across the ground.

"It's a butterfly," She exclaimed in delight, peering at the leaf where a delicate, blue insect proudly displayed its wings. Almost as if it knew it had a mesmerized PEDs surgeon for an audience.

"Only you would stop hiking for a butterfly," Callie murmured looking down at the small insect. It was nothing like the brown moths in Seattle that she and Cristina fought off during the summer when they left a window open a bit in their apartment. Despite herself, she felt herself amazed by the tiny creature before remembering she was supposed to be badass and rearranging her expression. Arizona seemed to catch on though and smirked at Callie's faked boredom before turning her gaze back toward the butterfly.

"Hold on, I have an idea." Arizona began, "humor me for thirty seconds." Callie thought, frankly she would humor Arizona for hours if the blonde asked but she kept her mouth shut.

For about half an hour now they had been walking through a lush cover of trees, almost a sort of jungle full of twists and turns, in stark contrast to the desert surrounding the clinic and their rooms.

"Here," Arizona pulled Callie behind a tree, immediately trapping the brunette's body between hers and the back of the tree. Crushing their lips together in a bruising kiss, Arizona felt Callie's hands tangle in her hair, urging her closer as the brunette managed to move her knee until it was directly between Arizona's legs. Once again, after a few moments the blonde pulled away with a pleased smile.

"Not complaining, but what was that?" Callie asked, leaning back against the tree as Arizona pulled her back toward the area that had been walking on before.

"I've had to pretend all day, you know… not touching, not kissing… When the entire time I've wanted to do… well that," she gestured back the way they had come. "Except without stopping. Plus I mean, you look like that… It makes walking in a straight line very difficult."

"I'm wearing a tank top and shorts," Callie's forehead wrinkled as Arizona laughed and shrugged her shoulders.

"You look hot." She stated simply returning to walking side by side until Callie stopped, looking around them desperately.

"Uhm... Arizona?"

The blonde turned toward her, worried by Callie's tone. "Yeah?"

"Where's the rest of the group… and where are we?"

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**A/N: Uh Oh...**

**I might not update soon, except luvlexi714 requested a One-Shot that I'll probably finish by Tuesday or Wednesday.**

**Reviews for my speedy update and wilderness drama?**


	12. Miss Human Compass

**A/N: Healer asked about, the playlist Arizona made on Callie's iPod called 'Team Awesome in Africa...' My idea was that it's all the songs from the chapters… so here they are. I might make a new 'playlist' later but for now-**

**It's Only Life by Kate Voegele  
Miracle by Paramore  
Time is Running Out by Muse  
This is Your Life by The Killers  
The Resolution by Jack's Mannequin  
Say When by The Fray  
It's Not Over by Secondhand Serenade  
Impossible by Kelly Clarkson  
Electric Feel by MGMT  
Little Pieces by Gomez  
Addicted by Kelly Clarkson  
Yellow by Coldplay**

**Thank you guys for all of the reviews last chapter, I hope you like this one as well :)**

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**New History**

**Chapter Twelve: Miss Human Compass**

_look at the stars  
look how they shine for you  
and everything you do  
yeah they were all yellow  
I came along  
I wrote a song for you  
and all the things you do  
and it was called yellow  
So then I took my turn  
oh what a thing to have done  
and it was all yellow_

**-'Yellow', by Coldplay**

"I'm so so so so so sorry, Calliope," Arizona repeated for what had to be the tenth time in the past half hour. They had been walking through the thick underbrush, looking around for the disappeared group of volunteers and probably going in the complete wrong direction.

"It's fine Arizona," Callie assured the blonde for what was also the tenth time. "It wasn't your fault we got lost." Arizona didn't appear to be appeased as she continued to blaze a trail through the jungle, looking extremely guilty and sneaking wide-eyed looks at Callie to try to discern if the brunette was actually mad or not.

"Really I-"

"Arizona. Seriously, it's fine."

"But-"

"If you apologize one more time, I'm going to leave you here." Callie threatened with a smirk and a decisive nod of her head.

"But-"

"Arizona!"

"Fine," Arizona pressed her lips together obediently, ignoring her constant impulse to apologize again.

"What are we going to do?" Callie asked after a while of walking in what Callie was sure were complete circles. Arizona turned back, a question visible in her eyes but she just shook her head.

"I mean, we have to find the group… They have to be looking for us, or something… I'm sure if we just keep walking we'll run into them-" Arizona replied before turning away and continuing to walk through the trees.

Callie reached out gabbed Arizona's arm, effectively slowing her rampage through the jungle as the blonde turned to face her. "Just one second there, Miss Human Compass." Arizona blushed, but Callie continued. "We could be walking in the complete opposite direction, and despite the implicit faith I have in your navigational skills," the blonde snorted at that remark. "I think we should stop."

"We can't just set up tents in the middle of the jungle," Arizona replied, scoffing at Callie's ludicrous statement. "We need to find the group."

"That's what tents are there for Arizona… you know, setting up, sleeping in… not just lugging around for the fun of it."

"We have to find the group Callie!" Arizona slipped into the use of the brunette's nickname as she glared at the brunette opposite her. "We can't just sleep here, we don't even know where HERE is!"

"Okay then, where's the group Arizona? Lead on, because we've been walking in circles for half an hour already and it's freaking dark!" Callie retorted, not really sure why she was so mad.

"Ha!" Arizona pointed a triumphant finger in Callie's direction. "You _are _mad!"

"I'm not mad we got lost, even if it was because you were horny and felt the need to look at stupid blue butterflies for hours… No, I'm mad because you seem to think wandering randomly around in the jungle at night is a good idea!" Callie spat, infuriated that the blonde seemed pleased she was angry. "You're a PEDs surgeon, right? Don't you know what parents always tell their children? Stop moving when you're lost, don't go running off like a maniac!"

"So you admit you're mad?" Arizona asked completely disregarding the rest of Callie's statement. "And also? I have a bit more sense than a toddler Callie. We're not lost in the toy section of a grocery store, I don't need advice meant for children."

"Then stop acting like one," Callie hissed, setting her pack down on the packed dirt. "I get that you're scared, I am too. But, we need to stop and let _them_ find us."

"You know what?" Arizona angrily retorted, crossing her arms over her chest. "I'm just going to leave you here."

"See if I care." Callie replied, sitting down next to her backpack defiantly.

"Fine."

"Fine."

"Bye then." Arizona's voice wavered but Callie raised an eyebrow in challenge and Arizona walked defiantly back into the jungle, until she was out of sight.

"Shit." Callie muttered, looking around the darkening jungle. "I didn't think she's actually go."

Ten minutes later, Callie was officially worried. She had found a flashlight in her backpack and used it to try to see though the dense branches but she saw no sign of Arizona among the thick trees. She had been sure Arizona was bluffing; she didn't expect her to just turn and walk off into the jungle in a completely random direction.

"Arizona!" Callie tried, calling out as loudly as she could, but her voice simply echoed eerily around the jungle, producing no familiar blonde. "Arizona would you just come back!" Callie pleaded.

No answer.

Another ten minutes passed. Callie had unpacked and repacked her pack twice, trying to make up her mind if she should actually try to find Arizona now. She had yelled a few more times, receiving no answer every time as the sun dipped farther and farther below the horizon. Sighing in defeat, Callie flicked on her flashlight and set about re-packing her stuff for the third time in preparation to searching for her blonde adventurer.

"Calliope?" Arizona's voice echoed through the dark jungle. "Callie are you there? I'm really sorry!"

The brunette immediately jumped up, grabbing her flashing light and walking in the direction of the voice. She shined the flashlight through the trees, searching for Arizona's familiar form, but still, nothing.

"Arizona!" She yelled, peering desperately through the thick leaves.

"Callie!" Arizona voice was closer now, but in the complete opposite direction from where Callie had heard it before. "Where are you?" The blonde yelled, stumbling over a thick root on the ground and clawing her way through the trees.

"Over here!"

"That really doesn't help!" Arizona yelled back, smirking to herself. Despite the dull anger throbbing in her chest after her fight with the brunette, relief flooded her body at hearing Callie so close by. It had taken her about five minutes to cool off and realize that wandering off by herself wasn't the best idea. The rest of the time had been spent desperately trying to find her way back to Callie and failing miserably. She wasn't exactly looking foreword to having Callie gloat over the lack of brilliance in her plan for the next few hours, but she'd rather bicker with the brunette than stumble around by herself.

"Walk towards my voice!" Callie replied, practically spinning in circles as she looked for Arizona.

"Okay- Oh crap OW!" Arizona yelled, stumbling backwards.

"What! What happened?" Callie called out, worried that she would have to perform some rouge MacIver surgery on her roommate and sort of girlfriend in the middle of the wilderness.

"Nothing," Arizona called back, Callie could hear the embarrassment in her voice. "I uh... walked into a tree…"

"Are you okay?" Callie called back.

"Yeah! This is taking too long, where are you!" The blonde answered before the beam from a flashlight momentarily blinded her.

"Hold on!" Callie yelled, "I think I see you!"

"And I think I've lost the ability to see," Arizona mumbled, squeezing her eyes tightly shut against the glare form the flashlight.

A few seconds later, Arizona felt a pair of familiar arms wrap around her, pulling into a tight hug. She gratefully returned the gesture, nestling her face against Callie shoulder for a moment.

"I'm sorry." She conceded; the apology muffled by the fabric of Callie's shirt.

"I'm sorry too," Callie replied with a smirk as she pulled away. "So… how was your… walk?" She asked, leading Arizona by the hand toward where she had left her pack.

"Don't ask," Arizona replied. "It took me about five minutes to realize it was a completely stupid idea."

"It was," Callie replied sagely, earning a smack on the arm from the blonde.

"Don't rub it in."

"I'm just glad you're back," the brunette flashed Arizona a smile.

* * *

Arizona looked down at the jumble of tent poles and canvas covering before her, unable to make heads or tails of the equipment. Next to her, Callie was having similar luck with making a fire, the flint provided in the packs didn't seem to want to light and the only thing they actually succeeded in doing was unraveling the sleeping bags. It had been no small feat.

"Trade you?" Callie asked, holding up the pieces of flint and gesturing toward the mess of canvas as Arizona's feet.

"Gladly." Arizona replied, shifting over and grabbing the rocks from Callie while the brunette moved to sit in front of the tent poles.

"Stuff like this makes me really regret not joining Girl Scouts," Arizona muttered as she banged the rocks experimentally together in her palm and they failed to produce even a spark. "I bet they teach this kind of out-doorsy thing."

"I don't think they teach, 'how to survive in Africa when you're lost in a random jungle'" Callie replied wistfully. "_But,_ they do sell good cookies."

"Thin Mints…" Arizona remembered with a fond sigh. "I haven't had a girl scout cookie in way too long."

"Okay. When our six-month term is up, provided we make it out alive, I promise to buy you a box of Thin Mints." Callie teased, successfully creating what resembled a tent out of the maze of canvas and titanium poles.

"Deal," Arizona smirked in response.

"What about food?" Callie asked, rummaging through her pack and pulling out a few packets of freeze-dried… something. "How do you think we should ration it?"

"How much do we have?" Arizona asked, rubbing the rocks together before glaring at them vindictively as if that would make them spark faster.

"I have about two days worth, and I'm assuming you have the same in your pack."

"I don't know… I mean, they'll find us in two days. Right?"

"I hope so," Callie replied looking down at their miserable food supply.

"It could be fun," Arizona tried to lighten the mood and ignore the ultimatum now hanging over their heads. "Like Swiss Family Robinson…"

"Seeing as we could barely put up a tent and start a fire I don't see us building a massive and amazingly cool tree house…" Callie muttered, still ruffling through her pack in hopes of finding something akin to a time travel device so she could erase this entire experience.

"Glass half empty, much?" Arizona mocked, her gaze slipping toward the brunette as she continued to search through her bag. "What are you looking for?"

"I don't know," Callie tossed the now empty backpack away from herself in disgust. "Something… just… god this is such a nightmare."

"Hey…" Arizona shuffled over, kneeling in front of the brunette and putting a cautious hand on her shoulder. "They'll find us. John probably has that megaphone that he loves so much and is walking around the jungle yelling at the top of his voice… By tomorrow, I'm sure they'll find us."

"Says the woman who got us lost in the first place, Callie smirked despite herself and Arizona jutted her lower lip out in a pout.

"You wouldn't _let_ me apologize anymore."

"I'm not mad at you," Callie promised watching as doubt flashed across the blonde's features. "Really, Arizona, it was bad luck… I'm just worried about getting back. The whole idea of rationing food in case they _don't_ find us…It kind of freaked me out… Like… it's not fun adventure in the wilderness anymore… it's do or die." She shrugged, looking down at the depressingly small pile of food.

"We'll get back," Arizona nodded firmly, determination swirling in her vibrant blue eyes. "Anyway, if we don't… Like I said, Swiss Family Robinson. Giant tree house here we come!"

"Hmph…" Calliope sighed heavily, trying desperately to see things from Arizona's persistent 'glass half full' point of view and failing miserably. All she saw was them simply wasting away in the middle of the jungle because they had run of out food and no one could find them in time. Cristina's dark and twisty was definitely rubbing off on her.

About half an hour later, Arizona had succeeded in creating a small but effective fire and Callie had sorted all the food packets as well as any other items that could be potentially useful.

"What's for dinner?" Arizona asked cheerfully as Callie walked over, holding a few packets of food.

"Crackers and… some kind of… something…" Arizona pulled a face as Callie held up the silver packet with a similar disgusted expression. "I though we'd save the freeze dried food for tomorrow, that way we have something to look foreword to… if you can look foreword to 'Instant Chicken Curry.'"

"Good plan," Arizona nodded while Callie settled down beside her and handed over a packet of crackers.

"Are we dating?" Callie asked, nonchalantly taking a bite of a cracker as she watched the blonde. Arizona almost choked on her dinner, coughing loudly for a few seconds before regaining her composure and shooting Callie an odd look.

"I guess so… I mean we can't… but for an intensive purposes… yep. Why?" She inquired curiously as a smile creased the edge of Callie's lips.

"It just occurred to me, we had our first fight," Callie remarked with a laugh. "With most couples it's about something stupid like… leaving the milk out or leaving the peanut putter lid off… but we argued about whether it was best to run off into the jungle to look for our missing group or to set up camp in the middle of nowhere…"

"So much for convention," Arizona smirked, finishing off her last cracker.

"How badass are we?" Callie teased, tossing the wrapper back into her backpack and edging closer to the fire.

"Awesome, Calliope." Arizona corrected with a broad grin. "The word we use is _awesome_."

"Fine. _Awesome_," she admitted, watching as a triumphant smile appeared on Arizona's lips, displaying her dimples.

Callie leaned back, letting a ragged sigh escape her lips and looking up through the branches at the night sky that was faintly dotted with stars and free of light pollution. From across the fire Arizona gazed at the brunette, lost in watching as the flames cast flickering patterns against her exposed skin. After a few moments Callie tore her gaze away from the sky and caught Arizona staring at her, a sly grin flashing across her lips.

"Hmm…" Callie faked a yawn, stretching her arms out above her head and reaching towards the sky. "I'm tired… I think I'm going to go to sleep…" Arizona's eyes widened as her gaze darkened every so slightly.

"Sleep?" The blonde croaked.

"Yep." Callie stood up, dusting a few leaves and bits of dirt off of her shorts. "I'm very tired. All that hiking… whew…"

Arizona watched, open-mouthed, as the brunette walked off toward the tent, turning to look behind her a flash Arizona grin. "Coming?"

Arizona stood up quickly, almost tripping over her own feet as she followed the brunette into the tent, fumbling with the zipper on the canvas contraption before successfully opening it and crawling inside. The second Arizona zipped the tent back up behind her Callie pulled Arizona closer, tugging the blonde down for a kiss and entangling their limbs in the process.

Arizona moaned in pure delight as their lips and bodies fought for control, shedding t-shirts and underwear as Callie's fingers traced the waistband of Arizona's shorts. Lust filled kissed masked the fear that they both felt about the pure emptiness surrounding them, but also relishing this rare opportunity to be completely alone and free from the need for secrecy. Their eyes met for a brief second, both dark with mirrored desire, before Callie smirked and flipped Arizona over so she was on top and captured the blonde's lips in a bruising kiss.

* * *

Callie was hot. That was the first thing she felt upon dragging her eyelids open the following morning. Sunlight mercilessly pounded on the fabric of the tent, heating up the interior until it felt as if she had decided to wander around a desert wearing a parka meant for sub zero temperatures. It also didn't exactly help that she had her arms wrapped snugly around a certain PEDs surgeon, who was hot is a completely different sense of the word. Though, that last part Callie didn't exactly mind.

"Hey," Callie murmured, trying to wake Arizona up by placing a quick kiss on the blonde's shoulder.

Arizona simply snuggled closer to Callie, mumbling something that sounded faintly like 'too early' or 'Bob Marley." Callie couldn't tell the difference though she was guessing the former, but they were equally adorable.

"Arizona," she tried again quietly, allowing herself a few brief seconds to gaze, mesmerized, at the face nestled slightly below hers. "Arizona, we have to get up." She finished, tearing her eyes away from Arizona's sleeping face to try to gauge the time of day by the amount of sunlight flooding their tent.

"Why?" The blonde complained, opening one blue eye before shutting it tightly against the sun.

"We have to look for the group," Callie reminded her, before placing a quick kiss on top of Arizona's hair.

"More hiking…" Arizona moaned, burying her face against Callie's shoulder.

"Hey, I thought you were all gung-ho about hiking… Team Awesome and all that," Callie pulled a face that she hoped Arizona couldn't see.

"I saw that." Arizona wrinkled her nose, pulling away from Callie and searching around the ground on the tent for articles of clothing. "How should we… try to find them? I mean, should we pack everything up?"

"I don't think so..." Callie looked thoughtful as she pulled on her clothes, trying to keep from being distracted by Arizona who was doing the same. 'We should pack everything except the tent and stuff back into the bags… but I think we should keep this as sort of… a base…"

"It's like those cartoons… Where both characters are looking for each other but they keeping moving so they keep missing each other."

"That's why I think if we at least keep the tent here, we can't miss each other. They find the tent and they'll probably find us. Or, we find them and come back to get the tent." Arizona nodded in agreement as she rolled up the sleeping bag that hadn't actually been used much.

"Just one question. How do we keep from getting lost again and losing the tent?"

"We'll leave a trail or something…" Callie replied, trying to come up with some sort of plan.

"Like Hansel and Gretel." Arizona grinned at the horrified expression gracing the brunette's features.

"Much more hardcore that Hansel and Gretel," Callie corrected, looking offended.

* * *

"Okay… I'll admit it, I feel like Hansel and Gretel." Callie stated grudgingly as she dropped a rock on the ground behind her. They had hunted around the camp for pale colored rocks that would stand out easily among the roots on the jungle floor. Arizona had suggested they drop bits of the instant Chicken Curry on the ground, but Callie had merely glared at her while Arizona laughed hysterically at her expression.

"Told you." Arizona replied, dropping a rock on the ground behind her, near Callie's. Their plan only really worked if the rocks were close together, otherwise they just looked like… rocks, not elaborate trail markers.

"Do you think they're looking for us?" Arizona asked hopefully, seeking some measure of comfort from an answer.

"I bet they are." Callie nodded, squinting among the trees.

"They were heading for a village right, fifteen miles away from the clinic or something, right?"

"Right."

"Do you think we could make it there?"

"Maybe, I mean we're already about halfway" the brunette's brow furrowed. "But, right now we could be completely turned around. Unless we can get out in the open and find some way to orient ourselves I don't see how."

"We have a compass, did you see what direction we were heading before… I… uhm... got sidetracked?" Arizona blushed and a faint grin appeared over Callie's concentrated expression.

"I think it was West… but I don't think we should try that unless it's a last resort. Like, we're running out of food or something, which we will be by tomorrow… but I could be wrong."

"West." Arizona nodded, committing that fact to memory. "Then, why don't we head in that direction for a bit to see if we run into the group?"

"Sounds good," Callie replied, as Arizona pulled the compass out of the pocket of her shorts and pointed them in the right direction.

"The only thing," Callie began after a few minutes of heading West and dropping rocks behind them to keep their trail. "It might not have been West the entire way, I mean there could have been a turn or something…"

"We just need to get close… They'll find us Callie," Arizona promised, aware of the empty meaning to her words but also aware of the small comfort they provided.

"They'd better" Callie grumbled, tripping over a rock. "If we die out here, there's nobody for Mark to call when he has relationship problems for the fiftieth time." She muttered under her breath.

"Hmm?" Arizona asked, "sorry, I didn't hear you."

"Nothing, just talking to myself." Callie managed a smile and kept walking with Arizona following close behind her.

"We'll make it back, Calliope…" Arizona grinned, an accomplishment considering their situation. "You still owe me a box of Thin Mints if I remember correctly, and I plan on collecting on that bargain. Just… today… don't worry, tomorrow we can try to figure out what to do if things are getting bad… but today…don't think about it… lets just… hike." Callie looked back at her, weakly matching her grin with one of her own that made Arizona's heart beat slightly faster in her chest.

"I hate hiking."

* * *

**A/N: Hope you enjoyed :)**

**Reviews are better than... -insert favorite food here-**


	13. Dragon Tales

**A/N: Summer=Love. So... the hiatus is over XD And New History is back :) Updates will be much more frequent now that school/exams are over! Whoot! Whoot!**

**I might be a little rusty on coming back to this story, so bear with me :D**

**

* * *

**

**New History**

**Chapter Thirteen: Dragon Tales**

**_I want to get away_**  
**_To feel the sun on my skin_**  
**_To feel it really_**  
**_Sinking in_**

**_Early '90s decor_**  
**_It was the day for_**  
**_We wanted to play_**  
**_But we had nothing left to play for_**  
**_Colourless colour_**  
**_-Colourless Colour by La Roux _**

The sun had long since dipped below the horizon, leaving the two women lying side by side in the tent, bathed in darkness. There was a millimeter of space between their bodies, their hands rested side by side on the fabric floor of the tent but they didn't touch. It was a boundary neither of them was willing to cross. The situation had created a sort of distance between them, that hadn't been present before.

They had walked all day, heading as far west as they possibly could until they were forced to turn back. The novelty of their predicament had long since worn off. Even to Arizona who would be determined to find the silver lining in anything short of a car crash couldn't find the fun and excitement that the sun seemed to have leeched away from them. The food was running out, they had one more meal each and their hike today had shown them that there was absolutely no way they could make it to the village in a day, assuming they had even been going in the right direction.

"What are we going to do, Calliope?" Arizona's voice cut through the eerie silence like a knife. She hated the helplessness she heard in her own words as they left her lips but she bit back her 'good-man-in-the-storm' instincts and turned on her side to face Callie.

The other woman still refused to look at her, fixing her gaze on the canvas of the tent roof.

"I have no idea…" Her voice trailed off, melting back into the silence.

"Should we just… stay here? I mean, we could try to find food… fruits and maybe plants and… stuff. Because, I don't think I could kill a little fluffy animal even if I wanted too… which is kind of sad, because I'm a surgeon and well… I cut people open. But, that's different. I do it to save them, not _eat _them-"

Callie's mouth twisted ever so slightly up into a grin as she placed a light finger on Arizona's lips, stifling her rambling.

"You won't have to kill fluffy animals." Callie's voice turned slightly more serious as Arizona's shoulders slumped in relief. "I think we should stay here. If we move, we might miss them… and it would be good to have some sort of… base."

"We're going to stop looking?" Arizona asked softly.

"We'll let them look for us." Callie replied, finally reaching down and taking Arizona's hand. "It's not giving up." She assured the blonde, seeming to understand Arizona's reluctance. "We're going to survive this, Arizona. But, we need to know when to fold." Arizona's nose wrinkled in confusion, and Callie shook her head.

"What?"

"I take it you've never played poker?" Arizona shook her head, her forehead wrinkling. "When you don't get dealt the best hand, you can choose to fold and wait for another round. You're not giving up, but you're not trying to play with the crummy cards either." Callie explained.

"Sounds boring. I was always more of a Candy Land type of person." Callie snorted, eliciting a muffled giggle form her blonde counterpart.

"I can _definitely_ see that." She felt a sharp jab as Arizona poked her in the side.

"Don't hate on Candy Land, it's just as hardcore if not _more so_ than _Poker_."

"Sure, Arizona. That's why in all of the movies James Bond is sitting with a bunch of evil men, all of them with bodyguards and weapons, betting thousands of dollars and probably his life on a game of _Candy Land_."

"Eh." Arizona shrugged. "James Bond was never very hardcore to begin with."

"What! He's 007… he's as hardcore as it gets." Callie protested. "Plus," she leaned foreword with a sly smirk. "He got _all_ the ladies."

"But he didn't play _Candy Land_, he played poker." Arizona stated, definitively, as if that ended the argument. "And. It was a new 'lady' every movie, so really he's just kind of a womanizer. Not impressive."

"You're hopeless."

"At least I have good taste in board games." She defended, unable to keep the triumphant grin off of her face.

"Poker isn't _even_ a board game!"

"Wait… _what_?"

"I give up." Callie threw her hands up into the air, in mock despair.

"That means I win." Arizona declared brightly.

"Win what, exactly?" Callie asked, glaring at the blonde out of the corner of her eye.

"James Bond is a wuss and Candy Land is better then poker. Don't even bother arguing with me Calliope; it's pointless. I _always_ win."

"You don't win. You just confuse the heck out of anyone trying to argue with you. That's not winning… How did we even start talking about this?" Callie asked, trying to ignore Arizona who was obviously annoyingly proud of herself.

"I have no clue, I just know I won the argument." She bit her lip, "but we were deciding what to do about the uhm… _situation_, when you started talking about poker."

"We're going to stay here, right? Try to find some food and water, maybe get started on that awesome tree house you kept rambling on about yesterday." Callie replied, her tone much lighter and her outlook much less dire than before.

"Yep…" Arizona paused. "We can do this… right? I mean, we're surgeons… I don't know how that's relevant, but we should be able to do this…"

"We have to do this." Callie replied, her thumb tracing circles on the back of Arizona's hand. "We have people waiting for us."

"Yeah, Kopano and the clinic-"

"Back home, Arizona." Callie smiled slightly as memories of Mark, Addison and even Cristina flooded her brain. "I promised by best friends I'd make it back alive and they'd probably come all the way out here to kick my ass if I didn't… What about you? Whose waiting for you back in Chicago?"

"My parents, my sister… a few friends from the hospital…" She shook her head, realizing that while the people she knew at the hospital were perfectly nice, she didn't consider any of them friends. She found herself slightly jealous of the woman lying beside her. Callie obviously treasured the friendships she had made at work, the way she always brightened when speaking about the hospital or her roommate spoke volumes about how much she cared for her friends. "Most of my friends are back home, where I grew up, in New York…"

* * *

Callie had drifted off to sleep beside, the sound of her long, deep breathing filled the tent as Arizona lay awake, fidgeting in her sleeping bag.

They had decided to go look for food in the morning, to stay in one place and let their group find them… Even if sitting in one place and waiting was fundamentally against Arizona's nature, she knew it was the right thing to do in this situation. But, she found herself unable to fall into the same deep slumber that Callie was enjoying. Instead, she lay awake with her over-active imagination playing out all the worst possible scenarios over and over. Callie getting hurt. Running out of food. Getting eaten by some fearsome jungle-beast. Being forgotten. Arizona knew it was ridiculous, but... what of they just… stopped looking? She may not have liked her life in Chicago that much, but she didn't want to be stuck out here forever.

However just as the scenario that included some mystery jungle monster was playing through her mind, a long creak echoed through the area.

Immediately she stiffened, her fingers balling into fists in the sleeping bag.

There it was again.

A long almost moan sounded, long and harsh, through the darkness causing a hoard of terrifying images to appear in Arizona's mind.

_Calm down… Just… it's nothing… it's the trees…_

Woooooooooosh.

_HOLY CRAP there it is AGAIN… Wait hold on… I think it stopped…_

Woooooooooosh.

_CRAP. NO… Trees don't freaking sound like that… unless they're… like those tree monster guys from Lord of the Rings… Now you're just being ridiculous, Arizona….maybe._

Arizona couldn't help it, the noise sounded like it was getting closer and it was definitely louder. She reached out, tapping Callie on the shoulder quickly before yanking her hand back and stuffing it into the sleeping bag. When she got no response, she tried again, harder this time.

"Callie!" She whispered urgently. "Callie wake up!"

"Mhhmmfff." Callie muttered something unintelligible and rolled over.

"Callie," Arizona pleaded, louder. "I think it's… like monster… or a lion… or like a freaking dragon or something… _please_ wake up."

Callie blinked and slowly rolled over, blearily glaring at Arizona. "Huh?" she murmured, taking in Arizona's frightened expression sleepily.

"Listen!" Arizona hissed, pausing as another long wail echoed around the tent.

"What?" Callie asked after a while, shrugging her shoulder and looking at Arizona in confusion.

"You didn't hear that?"

"Hear what?" Callie mumbled, rubbing her eyes.

"That!" Arizona pointed wildly around the tent as the noise sounded again. She inched closer to Callie, wide-eyed.

At once, comprehension dawned on Callie's face and to Arizona's annoyance she began to giggle.

"That's the wind." Callie replied, still giggling.

"Like H E Double hockey Sticks it is!" Arizona scrunched up her nose, feeling slightly foolish. Her body jerked and she clutched at Callie's arm as the same noise resonated through the trees.

"Arizona, I promise. It's just the wind." Callie replied comfortingly, rubbing Arizona's arm.

"Oh…" Arizona blushed, unable to keep the fear off of her expression though it was now mixed with embarrassment. "Yeah… I uh… knew that… Totally… the wind…" Her eyes still flicked wildly around the tent when the noise twisted through the air around them.

Callie leaned over, fumbling with the zipper on Arizona's sleeping bag before unzipping it quickly.

"Hey!" Arizona squeaked, as cold air flooded into her cozy space. Callie merely smirked, unzipping her own sleeping bag and then reaching down and pulling the edges together. "What are you doing?" Arizona asked, watching with confusion. She jumped slightly as the noise echoed around them yet again. Callie noticed the blonde's movements with a small grin.

Answering Arizona's question, Callie pulled the zipper up around them before wrapping her arms around Arizona's waist. "Making a double sleeping bag." She replied, snuggling closer to Arizona's warmth.

"Hmm…" Arizona hummed, feeling instantly much better. She crushed herself as close to Callie's body as possible, tangling their legs together. "My hero," she muttered. As Callie nestled her face into the crook of Arizona's neck the blonde felt her anxiety drain away.

Woooooooooosh.

Arizona flinched, sucking in a sharp breath as the wind howled through the trees. "Are you SURE?" She whispered, snuggling impossibly closer. "I mean, really _really_ sure?"

"I promise you," Callie replied, placing a quick kiss on Arizona's shoulder as the blonde jumped again at the noise. "It's just the wind."

"Hold on." Callie murmured a few minutes later, Arizona could feel her smirking against the skin of her neck. "Did you say it was a _dragon_?"

"In my defense, you weren't supposed to hear that…" Arizona muttered, feeling a blush stain her cheeks.

Callie laughed as Arizona fumed angrily beside her. "You know what? I think I liked my separate sleeping bag better." She struggled half heartedly to free herself from Callie's embrace. "Yep. Definitely." It was an empty threat of course; Arizona was pretty sure that nothing short of a crane and a forklift could force her out of her deliciously comfortable sleeping arrangement.

"Aww…" Callie pulled Arizona closer. "I'm sorry, I promise… Don't go," she began giggling again. "The _dragons _might get you."

"Shut up." Arizona mumbled, turning to face the brunette and burying her face against Callie's chest.

* * *

**(Next Day)**

"Marco!" Arizona called out, pausing in her rampage through the jungle until she heard Callie's voice.

"Polo!" Came the reply, as Callie walked maybe a hundred feet away from her in a parallel direction. After breakfast, which had been the last of the food they had packed, they had set out to find some form of food in the jungle. Callie had commented they could cover more ground if they searched separately and Arizona had decided they should resort to a rather childish method of communication. Marco Polo. As long as they could hear each other's voices, they were good, and while Callie had tried to change Arizona's plan so she didn't have to play 'stupid pool games' Arizona had insisted on keeping the 'traditional' words. Callie had scoffed at this but it was nothing Arizona's dimples couldn't fix.

"Find anything?" Callie yelled, stumbling over a root.

"Maybe." Arizona called back, "Can you come over here?"

"Marco." Callie smirked as Arizona jumped almost a foot in the air.

"Haha." Arizona sniffed, stepping closer to the tree she had been looking at.

"What," Callie teased. "Did you think I was a _dragon_?"

"God, you're never going to forget that, are you?"

"Not for a long time." Callie replied cheerily, "now, what's up?"

"Those," Callie followed Arizona's finger to the top of the tree. "They look kind of like fruit, right?" Round, orange-like objects hung from the very top of the tree.

"Yeah," she peered upwards. "But, how to we get them down?"

Arizona looked around, her gaze settling upon a large branch that had broken off of a tree. "Get ready to catch, Calliope." She ordered, picking up the stick and hefting it upwards.

After about fifteen minutes Arizona had knocked three fruits off of the top of the tree as well as having wacked Callie in the head more than once. Grabbing the first fruit, Callie pulled some of the peel off and sniffed it cautiously.

"It smells… okay…" She shrugged, looking up at Arizona. Neither of them was really willing to take the first bite. "How do we know it's not poisonous?"

"We don't, but" Arizona pointed upwards again. "Some birds have been eating them, so I assume they're okay."

Callie brought the fruit to her mouth warily and nibbled on a small piece. Shrugging she handed it over to Arizona. "It's not bad… but if I drop dead in the next few minutes, I blame you."

"Thanks." The blonde replied sarcastically, taking a bite. "You're right, it's not bad."

"Okay… so… we have one fruit… Should we split up and look for some more?" Arizona nodded, taking another bite of the fruit as Callie walked away.

About fifteen minutes later, after several Maro Polos, Arizona heard Callie calling her name.

"Arizona! Seriously you have to see this!" Callie yelled, staring transfixed out over the water.

"Wha-" Arizona stopped as she reached Callie, her mouth falling open. "Awesome." She breathed, wide-eyed.

"I know…"

They stood, side by side, on the bank of a river. The water was greenish blue as it flowed past them, and on the far bank the jungle continued up a huge hill that shaded the forest.

"We should move here." Arizona declared, breaking their reverential silence. "It's close to water, and those fruits I found… plus… I mean," she gestured toward the river. "It's awesome."

Arizona practically bounced foreword, bending down to trail her fingers through the water. "Woah. There's fish," she exclaimed, leaning foreword until her nose almost touched the water.

"Piranhas…" Callie muttered, walking to stand next to Arizona.

"There are no Piranhas in Africa," Arizona replied, as she watched a fish dart out of sight into the deeper water.

"Yeah," Callie smirked. "Well, they're aren't any of those _dragons _of yours either."

"You don't know that." Arizona mumbled, shooting Callie a mock glare.

* * *

"This. Is. Not. Working." Callie exclaimed, stabbing the water repeatedly with the sharpened stick. Arizona looked up from where she was trying to reassemble to tent and giggled slightly at the image of Callie glaring down at the water.

"You have to be quiet, and like… stealthy." Arizona retorted, managing to fix one pole into an upright position before the whole tent collapsed for the third time.

In their packs there had been one tiny camping pot in which they were trying to boil water and a camping knife that Callie had used to make her 'fishing spear' that Arizona had christened the 'giant chopstick.' It had taken them about an hour to haul all of their stuff from the previous camp site but where they were now they had access to some food for the tie being and they were more out in the open, and easier to see.

"Dang it." Callie muttered as she stabbed down into the water and the fish darted away. "Is there any chance that you packed a fishing pole?"

"Not that I recall."

"Shame." Callie tried again, unsuccessfully, to spear a fish. Tossing the spear down she moved over to sit next to Arizona. "Fish can wait until tomorrow." She announced, eliciting a nod in response from the blonde.

"What's for dinner?" She inquired, taking the mess of canvas and poles from Arizona and beginning to assemble the tent.

"Fruit." The blonde held up one of the orange-like things proudly and handed one to Callie. "They're actually quite good."

"Mmmhmm." Callie hummed, in between bites. "Not bad."

"You know what I realized today?" Arizona asked a few minutes later, wiping the juice that had dripped onto her fingers. Callie finished her last bite and turned toward the blonde.

"What?"

"While we're at the clinic and with the volunteers, we have to be all sneaky. Right?"

"I guess, yeah." Callie answered, not really understanding where she was going with all of this.

"_But, _none of them are here, are they?" She asked with a smirk.

"No… why?"

"Then, I can do this," Arizona leaned foreword, pressing her lips against Callie's gently before pulling away with a teasing grin. "Without having to be sneaky." Callie nodded, preferring to show Arizona she agreed rather than tell her.

"Shit!" Callie pulled away from a slightly hurt looking Arizona. "What the hell is that?"

"Not exactly the reaction I was hoping for." Arizona replied, backing up, but Callie grabbed her hand and pointed.

Maybe ten feet down the river… something… was taking a drink from the river, something with tusks that looked potentially dangerous.

"Oh." Arizona peered down at the animal for a second before turning back toward Callie. "I'm pretty sure that's a warthog…"

"How _on earth_ do you know that?" Callie asked, her death grip on Arizona's hand not lessening.

"I… uhm…" Arizona blushed. "The Lion King," she muttered. "There's a character named… Pumbaa, and he's a warthog- Never mind actually... I read a book. Yeah, a book and it had a picture of one of-"

"Sure you did." Callie laughed, finding both how embarrassed Arizona looked at admitting to watching the Lion King and the fact that the blonde still did watch the Lion King adorable.

* * *

That night, Callie woke up abruptly, and for no apparent reason. Coming out of her bleary, sleep-muddled state, the first thing she felt was cold.

_Why the heck is it so cold in here? _She wondered looking around. _Okay… I'm naked… that could have something to do with it… Wait. _Callie looked around the tent, realizing that she wasn't snuggled into Arizona's warm body, and the tent was empty._ What? Where on earth would she go... Maybe she went to the bathroom or something... _

"Arizona!" Callie called out, burying deeper into the sleeping bag. "Arizona, where are you?"

Suddenly the sound of nails scratching against the fabric of the tent cut through the silence.

"Ah!" Callie let out a yell, shirking down farther into the bag and clutching it around her.

She looked wildly around the tent, but Arizona was nowhere to be seen.

It happened again, longer this time. "Whose there?" Callie called out, before realizing the stupidity of the question. If it's some animal, it's not going to answer.

Oddly enough, Callie's question was met by the sound of muted giggles. Very familiar giggles.

"Arizona?" Callie called out again, slightly annoyed.

"Nope." Came the reply, except it sounded _very _much like Arizona. "It's a dragon." This statement was followed by more giggles.

"Haha." Callie snorted falling back down in the sleeping bag and wrinkling her nose. Soon she heard the sound of the tent flap being unzipped and closed again before Arizona slipped back into the sleeping bag, still giggling.

"Did I scare you?" Arizona asked, wrapping her arms around Callie's waist and trying to warm herself up after the cold she had felt outside the tent.

"No." Callie lied, trying to pull away from Arizona and leave her cold.

"Liar." Arizona replied cheerfully, pressing her cold fingers against Callie's shoulder to warm them up.

"Maybe a little." Callie abandoned her efforts to stay away from the blonde and threaded the blonde's icy fingers through her own to warm them up. Arizona let out a contented sigh as she snuggled closer that was followed by more giggles.

"I'm sorry, but you really never know what's out there… I mean, dragons could be a legitimate concern out here. Plus, you'd been teasing me all day..." Arizona smirked, nestling her cheek against Callie's warm shoulder.

"Goodnight Arizona." Callie replied in mock annoyance.

"Sweet dreams." The blonde replied cheerily with one last giggle before leaning over and kissing her on the cheek. "Seriously though, don't underestimate the dragons Calliope."

Payback.

* * *

**A/N: I still can't decide how soon I want them to be found by the group... so... hmm, any ideas you guys have is wonderful :D This story might get a little less light-hearted in a bit, but all's well that ends well :D**

**Also, like I said, sorry if this chapter was a little off. I'm rusty XD**

**Reviews are awesome, just like Pumbaa and the Lion King**


	14. Growing Pains

**A/N: I know it starts with Mark but you guys get lots of Calzona, don't worry :) Also, I ADORE your reviews guys, keep 'em coming :D They make me smile like a dork.**

**So, out of all the songs I've picked so far I think THIS song fits the chapter perfectly. Especially the end of this chapter.**

**New History**

**Chapter Fourteen: Growing Pains**

_**My heart it melts like plastic  
I fell through the hole yesterday  
Your smile pulled me in like elastic  
I felt my mind detonate**_

_**Oh I make mistakes  
And you just say its growing pains  
When I feel ashamed  
You tell me its just growing pains **_

_**-La Roux 'Growing Pains'**_

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* * *

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**(Around two weeks later)**

Seattle Grace was the same. It had seemed to take the loss of its favorite Ortho surgeon in stride as she had gallivanted off to Africa, leaving a hole where the badass, bone breaking Callie Torres should have been. But, life had continued. Cristina still lived in the apartment with the red sofa, secretly missing her absent roommate's cleaning habits as the floor was barely discernable under the piles of clothes and books she had strewn everywhere. Izzie still baked goods at obsessively early hours of the morning and distributed them around the hospital while Meredith's depressing exterior never really seemed to falter except in the presence of Cristina or Derek. Mark was completely whipped and engaged to Lexie Grey while Addison was shacking up with her new boyfriend of the moment, Sam. Life was perfectly normal. Dysfunctional, yes, but normal.

This is, until Mark got a phone call.

An unexpected dose of fear coiled in the pit of Mark's stomach as someone from the Peace Corps organization introduced himself over the phone. He resisted the urge to yell at the voice on the other end of the line to hurry up as they dwelled on formalities, but all coherent thoughts stopped when he told Mark that he had been listed as Callie's emergency contact. Emergency contact, what the hell Callie?

"_About two weeks ago, Dr. Robbins and Dr. Torres were separated from the group on a hike. We haven't been able to find them, but all efforts are-"_

"You lost her?" Mark growled, hoping this was some sick prank. "You LOST her? And who the_ hell_ is Dr. Robbins?"

"Arizona Robbins, sir." The man replied, stuttering slightly at Mark's hostile tone. "Dr. Torres and Dr. Robbins had been paired up as bunkmates and unfortunately both of them are missing at this time…"

"Oh…" Mark stopped, recalling his last phone call with Callie when she had mentioned something about having a crush on her bunkmate. If his best friend wasn't lost in the wilderness, he would have felt compelled to make a comment regarding the fact that Callie and her supposed _girlfriend_ had gotten lost in the wilderness _together_. But nope, that part of his brain had shut down. "Wait. Two weeks? She's been missing for two weeks and you're just calling me now?"

"We are still conducting-"

"Just save it." His fingers clenched on the phone receiver and his conversation had earned more than a few curious looks from the nurses. A few of the more industrious ones had already formulated rumors saying that a mysterious mistress had called to inform Mark that he was a father mere weeks before his wedding to Lexie Grey. "I'm coming. Where is she?"

"Well we don't know-"

"I'm mean the _general area _you idiot, I need to know where to fly to." Even he was surprised at the tone of his voice but he bit back an apology. It was Callie. They had LOST Callie.

"That's not necessary-"

"If you don't tell me," Mark threatened, "I'm going to find someone to report your incompetence to_ after_ someone gives me freaking directions."

The victim on the other end of the line stuttered out an airport name and city address before hastily hanging up. Mark let the dial tone ring in his ear for a few seconds before he slammed the phone back into its receiver.

"Shit!" A nurse cast him a glare but the reproach died on her lips as she saw the fear etched into Mark's expression. "Shit! Shit! Shit!" He banged his fist on the wall, rattling the phone in its hanger and now earning the full-undivided attention of all those in attendance in the ER, patients included.

"What the heck Mark?" Lexie approached from down the hall, wearing a mixture of annoyance and fear across her pale face.

"Callie… she-" He seemed to snap back into focus, ripping his pager off of his waistband and hurriedly dialing a number before dashing off down the hall, leaving his sentence unfinished. Lexie, as well as the rest of the ER, stood, open-mouthed as he disappeared down the hallway leading toward the elevators.

"Callie, what?" Lexie yelled in frustration, her fists jammed into her pockets as her boyfriend stood waiting by the elevators. "What happened?" He ignored her, seemingly lost in his own little world.

"Hey, you paged?" Yang appeared, looking bored, as always, just as the doors opened.

"Come with me." Mark grabbed her coat, yanking her into the elevator as the doors slid closed behind them, leaving a fuming Lexie to stare in wonder.

"What the heck, manwhore?" She yanked her coat out of his grasp putting some distance between them and casting him an annoyed glance. "Is this one of those perverted little elevator moments of yours-"

"Callie's gone." Cristina's eyes widened for an instant before her lips curled up into a sneer.

"Of course she's gone, genius," she scoffed. "She's in Africa. Same place she's been for the last year and ten months."

"No," a ragged sigh escaped Mark's lips as he faced Cristina. She looked taken aback, confusion making a fleeting appearance across her features as she looked at Mark. To Cristina, Mark had three modes: being perverted, being annoying and being professional. The last one was rare, but she had seen it from time to time, but she had never seen, fear. Seeing the pain radiating from those blue eyes was enough to send a sliver of foreboding coursing through her chest. "She's gone. She's missing. They just called, apparently, she's been missing for two weeks and-"

"Two weeks? She's been missing two _fucking_ weeks and they call now?" Callie was missing, as in legitimately MISSING? MIA? AWOL? Short of Meredith, Callie was really the only person who had seemed to be able to stand her for long periods of time. And, by Cristina's ridiculously odd standards that she used to judge people Callie had been all right, badass even. Not that she would even say it to Callie's face.

"I don't know why… I just…" A loud bell chimed in the elevator ripping them both back into reality as the elevator doors slid open again. A few interns immediately backed away at the sight of the attending and one of the mot formidable residents standing in the elevator, even they could tell something was amiss as Cristina didn't glare at them threateningly and Dr. Sloan didn't ask one of them to bring him coffee.

Cristina matched Mark's pace as the crossed the sky bridge, making his way toward the chief's office.

"You're going?" she asked, understanding the depth of his worry more than probably anyone else would have.

"Yeah, they gave me flight information," he mumbled as he yanked the door to the chief's office open. "I need to get time off." He explained before barging inside.

Dr. Webber turned in his chair, a frown tugging at the corners of his lips as his employees consistently decided to ignore the 'please make an appointment' sign and visited his office at all hours. However visits from Dr. Sloan were usually concerning sexual harassment petitions or HR complaints, and he was NEVER accompanied by a remarkably frightened looking Cristina Yang. Frightened. That was an emotion he had never seen grace either of these particular surgeon's face and he was instantly at alert.

"Callie's gone missing." The statement hung in the air for a few moments as Cristina's hands clenched and unclenched in her pockets and Mark waited for a reply.

"Missing, in Africa?" He paused, taking in the gravity of the fear dominating the faces of the two people standing in front of his desk. "_Missing_ missing?"

"For two weeks." Cristina added.

"Two weeks? And the hospital wasn't informed, she works here for god's sake-"

"Sir." Mark interrupted. "I'm going down there, I can get a flight this afternoon."

"I don't think that's the best idea Dr. Sloan, I mean-"

"It's Callie. She's my person… and my work-wife… I'm going, sir… I…" At a loss for words Mark settled for looking pleadingly at the chief.

"I'm not even going to pretend I understood what half of that meant, but… go." Mark nodded, turning to leave but stopping as a smaller hand gripped his arm.

"I'm going to, sir." Cristina announced, glaring at the both of them as if daring to deny it.

"You?" Mark asked incredulously.

"You?" The chief echoed.

If looks could kill, both men would have been smoldering piles of ash at that moment.

"What?" Cristina exploded, rounding on the two of them as her fear manifested itself into self-righteous anger. "You think that because I'm not some stupid social butterfly, that Callie and I weren't friends? I lived with her for more than two years, I had to sit through all of her shit when you were off being all 'loved up with Little Grey." A flash of guilt crossed Mark's face. "That's more than I can say for you, manly manwhore. So… yeah… I'm coming…" At her elbow, Mark simply nodded and she turned her gaze on the Chief, glaring at him defiantly.

Cristina didn't have many friends, as she said, she wasn't some social butterfly. But, those lucky, or foolish, enough to break into her close circle of 'acquaintances,' they weren't given up easily. As that idiotic, friend of Meredith's had pointed out, _'that girl mates for life.' _As much as she had loathed Sadie, she had gotten one thing right, and that was Cristina Yang. She wasn't unaccustomed to fighting, she had done for Izzie without a second thought, George as well and if anything it had taught her to fight harder. Underneath the medical procedures and technical jargon she had buried herself in, underneath the person who had yelled at Callie repeatedly for so much as picking up a towel or drinking the last of the tequila there was someone who was going to fight.

And, Cristina Yang _always _won.

"Ah... Uhm… Go." The Chief tried to save some of his dignity by giving the resident permission but he knew full well that if he had refused she would have gone anyway.

"Thank you." Mark murmured for the two of them, dragging her out of the office and down the hall.

"Okay." He stopped, yanking his cell phone out of his pocket. "If you're coming, you need to be at the air port in an hour, all packed and you'd better not be annoying. No Lexie jokes, no manwhore jokes, no… jokes. Deal?"

Reluctantly she nodded. "Whatever," came the muttered reply.

"I'm calling Addie now, go get ready." He barked but she stayed put.

"Seriously? You're calling the gyne-brigade? Won't she break a nail?"

"I will not hesitate to feed you to lions when we get there, if you don't shut up." He threatened dialing Addison's number. "For the record, the gyne-brigade is double board certified while you still wearing surgery diapers. And," he paused looking thoughtful, "yeah, my money's on Addison if it comes to a fight. Plus, she's Callie's best friend and she would literally come here and tear me limb from limb and then stomp on me with those high heels she is always wearing if I _didn't_ call her."

"Hmph." Cristina huffed, walking off hurriedly toward the elevators to head back to her apartment.

"God," Mark muttered. "Poor Callie. She isn't going to know what's hit her."

* * *

A tired gasp tore from Callie's lips as she watched the fish dart to and fro barely and inch beneath the spear she had fashioned using a camping knife and small stick. The muscles in her legs burned from sitting hunched by the side of the river and a painful ache had settled in between her shoulder blades from holding the spear constantly at the ready. _Fuck fish. _She thought miserably, resisting the urge to plunge her spear haphazardly into the water until she struck food. _Stupid useless creatures that just swim in stupid useless circles, all stupid day. _

A few feet away, Arizona lay with the granite texture of the rocks pressing into her back as she turned her gaze toward the brunette. She watched, her lip quirking up into a grin, as Callie swirled the spear experimentally in the water and muttering some curse under her breath when it seemed she had succeeded in only scaring the fish away rather than luring the helpless creatures closer. Under the toned skin she watched Callie's entire body still for a second, her arms tensing until she leaned foreword and stabbed the water, nearly falling in herself. Anticipation twisted in her stomach for a moment before Callie let out another exhausted sigh and raised her spear, empty, out of the water.

The hunger was ever present. A constant beast growling and clawing away in her stomach until they ate whatever fruit they had managed to scavenge that day. Fatigue followed the hunger, leeching into their bodies until even getting up or walking into jungle to find more food became an exhausting chore. Arizona knew it was worse for Callie though, as over the past weeks she had gotten sick more than once and thrown up whatever she had tried to eat. Fear had gripped the blonde then, as she watched Callie weaken and flashes of life by the river _by herself_ began to grow in the back of her mind. But, in the past week Callie seemed to have gained her strength back and Arizona had let her worries fade.

"Hey," she murmured, trailing her fingers over the brunette's back gently. "No luck?" Callie turned toward her, holding up the spear and offering a weak version of the sarcastic smile Arizona so adored.

"You think?" She leaned back gratefully into Arizona's touch, abandoning the spear for a moment and allowing it to slip through her slackened grip. "But…" Her teeth bit into her lip, as her brown eyed gaze turned upward to meet Arizona's. "We need them… the fruit… it's not enough anymore…" Reluctantly she turned back to the river, hefting the stick above her shoulder.

Never letting her fingers leave the taunt skin of Callie's back the blonde settled down beside the brunette. She let her head fall against Callie's shoulder, nestling into the rough fabric of Callie's t-shirt that had changed from white into a form of muddy grey. Callie tore her eyes away from the fish, nestling her head against Arizona's messy curls.

"Wasn't this supposed to be fun?" She asked weakly, her fingers dancing across Callie's back in a tired massage. "As a kid, didn't you always want to just run away and live in a tree house?"

"Somebody watched too much Swiss Family Robinson as a child," came the reply, Callie's sarcasm falling flat with the exhausted tone of her voice. "But… yeah… I tried it even, I made it about a day in the west corner of out backyard before the gardener found me."

A small smile hinted at Arizona's dimples as memories from her childhood overpowered the dull headache and the worry that was a constant thread to her thoughts. "How big was your backyard?" She wondered out loud, eliciting a mysterious frown from her girlfriend.

"A few acres, give or take," she told the blonde. "We were rich, very rich… _too_ rich, frankly." She watched in slight amusement as Arizona's eyes widened.

"So, you're like… a secret Paris Hilton, or something?" Arizona joked, feeling Callie stiffen against her cheek.

"That's more Aria's territory…" Her voice trailed off, hints of regret and anger weaving through her tone as well as a flood of hurt. "She's my sister. I haven't seen any of them in years though… After… you know…"

"I was kidding, but… wow… I did not expect that…" She twisted until her eyes found Callie's face, she found a pair of brown eyes staring back at her holding an un-readable expression.

In that moment, Arizona swore she felt something change. Until then, they had barely passed the formalities, learning superfluous yet exciting details about one an other, such as 'favorite food' or 'where they had grown up.' She had felt a thrill course up her spine at every little facet of Callie she had uncovered, finding even the smallest details ridiculously interesting, but both of them realized they had barely scratched the surface. This was different.

The way Callie was watching her, she was studying her, waiting for a reaction. The blonde realized Callie could have easily lied, brushed it off and changed the subject, she probably wouldn't have noticed. Instead, she was letting Arizona in, and the thrill didn't even compare. Maybe it was the fact they were lost. They were lost and just beginning to realize that maybe no one was going to find them. But, in that moment she grasped that Callie was letting her _see. _She was fragile, but she was letting Arizona in anyway, and at the same time she was watching… to see if Arizona would be the one to_ break_ her, because at that moment she was completely at the blonde's mercy, and it was terrifying.

However, Arizona had no intention of breaking her, she had been given something precious, and she was going to _treasure _it.

"I'm sorry," she felt Callie immediately relax and allowed herself to sink closer to the brunette.

"You know, that's the first time someone's _apologized _after finding out I'm rich." A wry laugh escaped Callie's lips but Arizona could tell it wasn't supposed to funny. It was supposed to mask something deeper, and something more painful. But sometimes, laughing is simply easier.

"Money causes more problems than it solves, sometimes… You're no different Calliope, rich, poor… whatever… None of that matters."

"Out here, it's easy to believe that," her brown eyes traveled around the secluded area they occupied. Despite the hunger and the growing fatigue, to her it was paradise in that moment. "Nothing matters out here, everything's stripped to the bare minimum… there's no room for pretense, but out here…" she used her free hand to gesture around the vast emptiness surrounding them. "Who really gives a crap?"

"I do," Arizona let a smile transform her expression, displaying the dimples that had been missing for the past few hours. "I _give a crap._"

"I know." She replied as she nestled her head on top of Arizona's once again. The blonde could hear the smile in Callie's voice and that alone made the burden lighter.

"Do you think it would have been easier?" Arizona asked. A few days ago she wouldn't have dared to ask that question, she would have tiptoed around the idea until a harmless topic surfaced in the conversation. "Without the money, I mean."

"Sometimes." Callie nodded, casting her gaze on the other side of the river. "I'm not going to lie, as a child, having money was not a bad thing. But, as I got into high school some people couldn't see past it. Aria of course ate it all up, taking every chance possible to flaunt what we had, but it always irked me that people thought they knew who I was just because they knew what I had." Something flashed in her eyes, her memory drifting back to the world high school 'Calliope Torres.' "It changed me the same way it changed my parents, or Aria. It's just while they became more pretentious, I because more rebellious. We were like the opposite ends of a magnet, my sister and I…" She shrugged, sneaking a glance at the blonde from the corner of her eye. "We just didn't fit."

"Is that why you joined the Peace Corps?" Callie looked surprised for an instant before a more thoughtful look replaced the surprise.

"Not really… I've made my peace with the fact my family and I just… clash… I came here partly to get away from work and also to get away from…" Callie blushed, "Erica."

"Hmm…" Arizona bit her lip, trying for the world to just listen and not give in to the green-eyed monster that was howling away in her stomach. "Erica, huh?... That's a… nice… name…" She coughed awkwardly as Callie shook with laughter beside her.

"Yeah," Callie snorted. "That was a mess. I'm grateful to her for making me see that I actually am gay… but the rest of that relationship was a bit defective, to be honest."

"I already don't like her." Arizona huffed, flashing Callie a small grin.

"Jealous, are we?" The brunette teased, nudging the woman curled up by her side. Arizona yelped, almost toppling into the river save the arm that Callie shot out in front of her, saving her from becoming fish-food.

"Maybe a tad," she admitted, as a mischievous smile replaced the surprise. "But, you're lost in the wilderness, with _me_ and not… Erica. So, points to me."

"There's no competition," Callie leaned down, brushing her lips teasingly against Arizona's cheeks and under her jaw, enjoying the shiver that coursed through the blonde's body. "Trust me."

"I don't know," she pressed, watching as a scowl dominated the brunette's features. "Your first is your first… There's always going to be something there, no matter how amazing the woman you happened to get lost in the jungle with is."

Instead of the response she'd expected, a pair of lips crushed against her own, stealing the breath from her lungs. Arizona did her best to make Callie fight for control but as teeth bit down on her lip, eliciting a gasp, Callie's tongue plunged into her mouth, stealing her breath all over again. Before, in the tent, or back in their dorm had been amazing yes, but this was different. The was an entire new world of different. It was a fire roaring within her or ice coursing through her veins, the moon and the freaking sun, lust and hate. Something had changed, Arizona had felt it but it wasn't some desperate, _'I'm lost in the jungle and I'm horny and you're here' _moment. It was a thousand things she didn't even attempt to name as electricity flooded her entire being and Callie's fingers continued their burning trail down her body. Whatever had changed between them had freed something within the both of them. Something amazing.

"There. Is. No. Competition." Callie said fiercely, wanting more than anything for Arizona to hear it. To hear her, and to _believe_ her. Because for her, there was no one else and she wanted Arizona to know that, unequivocally.

Arizona had long lost the ability to speak as Callie's lips moved to her collarbone, but the loud moan that ripped from her lungs was more than enough for the brunette. Feeling Arizona react to every touch, no matter how slight, was more than enough because it showed Callie how much Arizona wanted her, _needed_ her. And, she wanted to give that back, she wanted to show the blonde how much she cared and how much she wanted her right back. Heedless of the fact that they each only had two shirts to begin with, Arizona's fingers eagerly tore at the brunette's clothing until Callie was clad in nothing but a pair of underwear and bra that Arizona wasted no time in freeing her from. As Callie moved teasingly lower, taking her sweet time in Arizona's rather desperate opinion her descent suddenly stopped and Arizona felt every nerve in her body crying out in protest.

"Tent." A low, husky voice demanded, as she felt Callie's lips twist up into a fierce, triumphant smile against her burning skin.

"Why?" Arizona asked, dragging Callie's face back toward hers and trying to pour all the want and desire she felt coursing through her body at that moment into the kiss.

"Because," Callie pulled away, transferring her attention to Arizona's neck as the blonde arched into her body. "I know it's called the birds and the bees, but I plan on doing things to you that even _they _shouldn't see."

Arizona melted. She was almost positive that besides the delicious sensation of Callie's fingers and lips claiming every inch of her skin, she wasn't herself anymore. She was Callie's, and she couldn't be happier about that.

Some people fall in love over a long period of time. To some it's a process, give and take until they find some balance to satisfy both parties. For Arizona Robbins however, it was instantaneous. It was a clash with someone so much her opposite that showed her exactly what love was. It wasn't give and take. It wasn't expecting anything in return. It was letting herself go completely, it was giving someone her heart and trusting them implicitly not to break it. And that day, she found a heart in return for hers.

* * *

**A/N: So... I was NOT sure about this chapter at all. In fact, I think I am now going to go hide behind a pillow and hope that you didn't absolutely hate it.**

**So.. Mark, Addison and Cristina are heading down to Africa, but that doesn't NECESSARILY mean that they're going to be found immediately. Callie learns a bit more about Arizona next chapter, as well as... some other stuff... that happens... yeah...**

**So, what did you think? *hides behind pillow***


	15. Personal Presentation

**A/N: First, wow! I'm was SUPER surprised about all of the reviews guys.. really... I would give you all hugs but I can't so... I'll hug my laptop... there... see?**

**Some people mentioned *****cough***** hygiene…  
-Showering-They are close to a river… so that could work I guess.  
****-Toothbrushes- They **_**were **_**packing for a three or four day trip, so they brought toothbrushes with them in their packs.  
-Anything else… just… roll with it.**

**WARNING: Callie gets all introspective for the first bit… I couldn't stop her… I'm sorry... I tried. But, don't worry you get fish catching and Addison vs. Cristina later on :D**

**New History**

**Chapter Fifteen: Personal Presentation**

_I've been searching for  
A girl that's just like you  
Cause I know  
That your heart is true_

_Baby, I love you  
I never want to let you go  
The more I think about,  
The more I want to let you know…  
That everything you do,  
Is super duper cute  
And I can't stand it_

_**-**_**Can't Stand It by NeverShoutNever**

_What was this?_ That was what Callie Torres felt herself wondering. _What the hell am I doing? _She didn't do this sort of thing, not that she knew what this 'thing' was. She didn't get lost in jungles with perky blonde women, she didn't sit by rivers for hours on end stabbing hopelessly down into the water until she found a fish stupid enough to stay still for more than a second. It was something more than that though, and that's what frightened her.

Maybe it was the isolation, the awe-inspiring emptiness that seemed to surround them from all sides. Maybe it was something else altogether. Maybe it was _Arizona._ But, whatever it was, Callie felt herself falling.

Some nights when Arizona was asleep beside her she would almost terrify herself into thinking she couldn't remember Mark, Addison, or even Cristina's faces. She was being completely ridiculous, but the emptiness the enveloped them was so terrifying _final_ that it scared her. It was an unspoken agreement between them, not to mention the search parties that they both had lost hope in. It had been two weeks according to the notches Arizona carved into one of the trees everyday… Two weeks. She couldn't help but think, _if they're going to find us… shouldn't they have done it by now?_

She felt helpless in the face of it all, like she was being dragged along on some endless rollercoaster ride. Hurdling at full speed toward god knows what.

It was Arizona though, that frightened her the most. Like she had said, she didn't do this kind of thing. She didn't find herself falling in love with someone after knowing them for merely months. But that's exactly what she knew was happening. She was falling, but how far?

There was something about Arizona though. It was almost gravitational how they always sought to be closer, to always be touching somehow. Even if it was a meaningless brush of fingertips against the top of her hand Callie felt electricity flush her body at such simple collisions of skin on skin. It was addictive. With a simple turn of that blue-eyed gaze, Arizona had the power to make Callie's heart melt in her chest. A dimpled grin sent shockwaves through her entire body… It was too much sometimes as Callie realized they were living in a sort of bubble. They were isolated, but this gave them freedom. She both dreaded and craved their return to civilization as she was certain this beautiful illusion they had created was going to come crashing down.

She had finally figured it out. Screw the jungle and forget the sense of impending doom that seemed to hang over their camp. What_ scared_ her was her bunkmate. Denial really was useless when it was just her alone with her thoughts. She was in love with Arizona Robbins, and that… that was the most frightening thing.

With that thought fixed firmly in her mind, Callie tried to dismantle it. Study it, as if it was a unique surgical case she was observing. Why? Erica had never frightened her this way, Erica hadn't come close. The idea of being gay, to admitting to liking girls had been what had scared her, but her feeling for the cardio-surgeon hadn't compared. So that left her wondering. Left her wondering why Arizona Robbins, the blonde enigma, frightened her so much. In their little jungle world, everything seemed amplified somehow. Every touch, every feeling, every glance…. _everything_… but once again Callie was left to wonder. Was it the jungle, or the person lying next to her, asleep?

Shaking her head, she rolled over in her sleeping bag. _You're in the jungle, you're lost in the freaking wilderness. It'll all go away once we get out of here… _She bit her lip, rolling over yet again to watch Arizona as she slept. The soft sound of snoring filled the tent, something Callie had teased Arizona about and that the blonde had vehemently denied. Her last thought as she let herself drift off to sleep, was: _what if I don't want it to go away?_

In the morning, Callie woke up her head still muddled by the mess of thoughts and feelings ratting around in her mind.

"Morning," a sleepy voice reached her ears from the other side of the tent as Arizona stirred awake. All of the confusion disappeared as Arizona flashed her a dimpled, albeit tired grin and scrambled out of the tent to brush her teeth. All of it, gone, with one grin. _Scary, huh?_

"I'm going to go grab some fruit," Arizona called through the fabric as Callie heard her footsteps fade into the juggle surrounding them. She sluggishly unzipped the tent flap, crawling out into morning air that to her was already unnaturally warm.

As she finished brushing her teeth, realizing with distaste that her very small tube of toothpaste that she had brought, expecting a four day trip, was almost gone. She almost made a mental note to remind herself to go to the store and buy some more… but that wasn't really an option, was it?

About ten minutes later Arizona wandered back, clutching an armful of the orange fruits they seemed to find quite a lot of as well as some yellow and reddish ones that they had found only a few days before.

"What's your poison?" She joked, holding up the various types of fruit to Callie.

"Erm… Yellow please," Arizona flashed her a grin, before reaching down and tossing one of the yellow fruits in Callie's direction. With her wonderful coordination skills, she missed by about five feet and between the giggling and apologizing from the blonde Callie managed to get her breakfast, even if it was a little bruised.

They set about the morning routine that had become purely habit. Arizona went down to the river, filling up several containers they had retrieved from their packs that used to carry various contraptions, and using the single pot to boil enough water to last them the day before pouring it back into the containers. Callie located her spear and took up her position by the side of the river, in the same spot every day.

Arizona watched with amusement as a deep scowl settled over the brunettes face as she stared down into the water. Sometimes she would go off into the jungle for a few minutes, often up to a half an hour to collect fruit or try to find anything useful among the trees and when she returned Callie would be frozen in the exact same position, wearing that same frown. She had childish, irrational fear that Callie would simply turn into a statue.

She had offered to help but Callie hadn't let her. Arizona suspected it was because of the comment she made weeks ago about not wanting to have to kill any furry animals. While fish weren't exactly flurry, she loathed the idea of killing one and she was extremely grateful to Callie for offering to shoulder the entire burden. But, both of them seemed to sense that it was getting to the point where they couldn't survive off fruit alone anymore.

* * *

A loud voice rang through the trees, "Arizona! Arizona, come here!"

From where she had been standing on her tiptoes in hopes of reaching one last piece of fruit, Arizona jumped, proceeded to trip over her own feet for a moment in her surprise and dash back toward the tent. At the urgent tone of the brunette's voice, Arizona's mind filled with horrible predictions, thinking she would find Callie injured or in danger sent pangs of fear through her chest. Living in the jungle had made them both constantly on edge, as even the smallest sound or a sharp cry could mean something horrible.

However as she skidded to a stop at the edge of the thick covering of trees she was greeted with a huge smile and she breathed a huge, internal sigh of relief.

"Check it out!" The brunette exclaimed jubilantly, pointing to the rocks by the edge of the stream. Two very small, silvery, fish rested on the rocks, the result of Callie's two weeks of desperate fishing. But still, two fish was something and Callie's obvious triumph brought a smile to the blonde's lips.

"You caught them?" She tried not to feel sorry for the small creatures but her survival instinct effectively squashed all the guilt. Well, almost all of it.

"Yep," Callie's smile faltered slightly. "I didn't expect it to be… so…" She shrugged, seemingly at loss for words. "I think that's the first time I've _deliberately_ killed something. But… we need the food, right?"

"Right." Her bare feet moved quickly over the warm rocks as she knelt by the small fish. The irony wasn't lost on either of them. Two surgeons who had their hands in people's bodies almost daily were uncomfortable with the idea of killing fish.

Oddly enough, that thought was comforting in itself. It's a common perception that surgeons are somehow… less human that the rest of the world. They have to be, to do what they do. Arizona had wondered about that from time to time. Whenever she had to suppress her grief over one of her patients dying, she had thought of herself as less of a human for having to do such a thing, less of a human than the parents who were sobbing in the waiting room as she looked on with a stoic expression. But, here she was, sad about fish.

"What do we uhm… _do_ with them?" Callie's question broke her reveries yet she had no answer.

"I think… we have to take the bones out… or something… and take the skin off…maybe…" She stumbled, looking over the silvery objects a few inches away from her. "Well," she got up, hoping Callie would let her escape back to the task of fruit collecting. "Uhm… I'm sure you'll figure it out."

"Oh nooooo," a hand reached out, catching her arm before she could escape back into the trees. _Busted, _Arizona thought with a scowl. "I spent two weeks sitting by the infernal stream, you _have_ to help." Callie ordered, narrowing her eyes playfully.

"Fine." Arizona huffed and sat down on the rocks, rummaging around in her pack for a second before pulling out the camping knife. "I have no idea how to do this." She added, seeing her confusion mirrored on Callie's face.

"Do I look like a wilderness expert?" A frown twisted the brunette's lips downward as she found her own camping knife and stood next to the fish uncertainly.

"No." Arizona snorted, fully aware that she didn't look like one either. Reluctantly, she cut into the fish as Callie followed suit.

Half an hour later, both of them had succeeded in messily 'preparing' the fish and Arizona wandered to the other side of the camp to make a fire. In her hand she rubbed the rocks together expertly, a small smirk of satisfaction transforming her expression as they sparked on the first collision. As a result of their two week excursion in the wilderness she had refused to let the annoying pieces of flint beat her anymore. Callie had thought her slightly ridiculous for becoming so enraged at two pieces of rock but after days of practice and several expletives yelled in the rock's general direction she had become a self-proclaimed 'flint expert.' It was skill she was sure she would never use again, but it was satisfying nonetheless.

With the fire crackling among the leaves, Arizona pulled their one pot out from Callie's pack and filled it with water. She set it on top of a contraption they had fashioned that kept the bottom of the pot just a few inches away from the flames and left the water to boil.

Callie was trailing her spear through the water absent mindedly as Arizona walked over. For a moment Arizona thought she saw a flicker of sadness in that brown-eyed gaze but whatever she had seen was quickly disguised as Callie looked up, saw her, a grinned.

"Pretty awesome, if I do say so myself." She remarked proudly, as fish darted in endless movement a few inches away.

"Awesome is _definitely_ the word I would use," the blonde replied, smirking. "We are Team Awesome after all." Her statement was met with a disbelieving snort.

"Seriously, _still?" _The teasing in her voice drew Arizona's annoyed gaze to the brunette's face, where she found a small smile that Callie was desperately trying to hide.

"We never stopped being Team Awesome," grinned Arizona, watching as Callie allowed the smile to appear. "We'll never stop."

"Never, huh?" Callie turned away, watching as Arizona's eyes widened ever so slightly before she returned the grin.

"Yeah. Never."

* * *

Dust swirled around a pair of very expensive, designer high-heeled shoes as the redhead stepped off of the plane and onto the rough tarmac. Behind her, a shorter brunette slouched down the runway followed by a man who looked extremely tired as both women had enlisted his help in carrying their bags.

"Why. Is. There. So. Much. Dirt?" Addison complained, stumbling haphazardly over small pebbles that scattered over the dirt pathway toward a rundown jeep that Mark had somehow rented. She wasn't really sure she felt safe near the vehicle, let alone inside of it.

"I think the high heels might have something to do with it," Cristina returned, dragging her own bag over the rocks and shooting Addison an exasperated glare. "Why do you wear those things anyway, you're what…" she studied the redhead for a minutes, "like eight feet tell already, without them?"

"It's personal presentation, Yang." She scolded, stumbling yet again. "Something you _obviously _know nothing about."

"And yet you don't see me staggering around like an idiot," came the smug reply from behind her.

"Yes, but while I am **double** board certified, _nationally_ celebrated surgeon, you are merely a resident with an unfortunate choice in footwear." Cristina bristled, her lips twisting down into a frown.

"When you fall and break your _nationally celebrated ankle, _see if I'll help you." In response Addison scoffed, disguising yet another fall as she ungracefully stumbled up the trail.

"Well it isn't cardio related so I doubt you'd even_ know _how to fix it. As if I'd even let you anywhere _near _my ankle." Mark rolled his eyes, trudging along behind the two of them carrying most of Addison's many bags and one of Cristina's that he suspected she had filled with rocks just to piss him off.

"Your ankle? I wouldn't even want to go near your ankle! Really-"

"ENOUGH!" He barked, effectively stopping both women in their tracks. "I've been listening to this for more than ten hours, god it was a bad idea to let the two of you sit next to each other on that tiny plane. Cristina, shut up. DO you realize with a few words from the 'gyne-squad' over there, she could make the rest of your residency hell on earth?"

"I'd like to see her try." The brunette muttered as Addison grinned triumphantly.

"That's right-" The redhead began gleefully but Mark cut of off.

"And YOU! You were arguing about ankles… _ankles_…" Neither of them seemed to comprehend his exasperation as his statement was met with two livid stares. "You're arguing with a resident, about ankles… Really, Addison? _Really? _And you're shoes ARE ridiculous, by the way. We're here to find CALLIE. Remember her? She's kind of tall, has brown eyes, black hair? Your best friend, and _your _roommate?" He stormed off, leaving his two annoying travel companions to share a glance of mutual disgust and resume their argument, albeit more quietly.

"See," Cristina mumbled, shooting a glare at Addison's shoes. "Ridiculous. I told you."

"Huh… So lets see, I think Dr. Webber would be more than interested to hear about your new interest in the field of PEDs. I could tell him all about your burning desire to help children with their _boo boos_ and offer to mentor you… _myself_." Cristina looked horrified.

"You wouldn't." She retorted, still in a whisper.

"You bet my double board certified, nationally celebrated ass, I would." Her statement was met with a stony silence that Addison took as a victory before pitching headfirst into the dirt as a result of a particularly large rock getting in the way of her high heels.

Mark simply shook his head, walking ahead, as Cristina doubled over with laughter.

"I didn't know you _could_ laugh, Yang." Addison's face was almost as red as her hair as she pulled herself upright. A grimace tugged at the corners of her lips as the brunette kept laughing. "Really, human looks good on you."

"Yeah, yeah," Cristina replied, between bursts of laughter as the 'gyne-squad's' discomfort. "I've never really believed in that mystical, magical, voodoo crap. But, that was karma if I ever saw it."

"Whatever..." Came the juvenile reply. Addison stalked off, as best she could, though she managed with only a few ungraceful stumbles and left the resident to collect the bags, still howling with laughter.

"What _is _it?" The brunette asked a few minutes later, disdain obvious in her voice.

"A car." Mark answered shortly, tossing a few bags into the decrepit trunk. Addison arrived behind Cristina, matching the resident's expression.

"Does it even work?" She asked, noting the layer of dust that seemed to coat every inch of the vehicle.

"Of course it works," he practically growled, yanking the door open for both of them un-gracefully. "This is why we need to find Callie. She's much, much less annoying and high maintenance than_ either_of you. Spending more than ten hours on a plane with her would not have been the living hell it was having to sit next to the both of you!"

"I think we pissed him off," Addison leaned down, whispering theatrically in Cristina's ear while she fixed Mark with a formidable glare.

"I'm not high-maintenance!" Cristina contradicted indignantly, completely ignoring the rest of Mark's statement.

"I give up." He got in the car, slammed the door behind him, and jammed the key into the ignition. "It's a two hour drive. The next one of you that speaks is out of this car on your ass."

"As if," Cristina muttered, clambering into the backseat as Addison claimed the front.

"Now, now Yang," Addison teased, resting her hand against the back of her seat. "You heard the _grandpa,_ no talking."

"Kick her out of the car," a voice begged from the backseat. "Did you hear that? She called you grandpa! Kick her out!"

* * *

**A/N: Poor Mark... really, think about what he's going through.. lol**

**I have a writer's block on Butterflies and Hurricanes... but I'll try to figure it out soon... maybe by Monday or something... I hope. *shrugs***

**Oh, and I'm pretty sure they're going to get... found... next chapter... so Yay for them XD**

**Reviews are as good as chocolate XD**


	16. Hide and Seek

**A/N: And the writers block continues! Whoot... :( So, instead of Butterflies and Hurricanes.. you get this. I hope that's okay.**

**I never really thought I would get 300 reviews on a story... Just WOW... Really... I love reading them and seriously you guys are the best :D**

**Enjoy.**

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**New History  
Chapter Sixteen: Hide and Seek**

_**All these thoughts locked inside  
Now you're the first to know**_

_**When darkness turns to light  
It ends tonight,  
It ends tonight.  
Just a little insight won't make this right  
It's too late to fight  
It ends tonight,  
It ends **_

**-It Ends Tonight by the All American Rejects**

**(Arizona's POV)**

_We play games, always have, and probably always will. We used to close our eyes, count to ten then listen as we heard the sounds of footsteps disappearing in every direction. Sometimes we opened one eye, sneaking a peek and laughing to ourselves as we watched where they all went, knowing we would win this round easily. Sometimes we hid, crawling behind piles of forgotten toys in closets or climbing up into trees to hide among the braches. Hide and Seek. It never really changes. The principle, the goal, the moral is always the same._

_Sometimes you have to get lost to be found._

_

* * *

_

**(No POV)**

"Tell me about Seattle Grace," Callie looked over at the blonde, a bemused smirk twisting up the corners of her lips. The blonde watched Callie for a moment, oddly scared that her request was too much… too soon. Bringing up home when they were lost in the middle of the jungle, their hope of rescue fading with each passing day, might not have been the best idea.

Neither of them had even mentioned what was going to happen when the six months were up. Even before she had joined the Peace Corps Arizona had been planning to transfer hospitals. For the twenty-seven months that made up her term with the organization, Arizona had devoted herself wholeheartedly to the goal at hand, not really considering what she was going to do when the time was up. But, with merely four months left with the clinic in Africa, thoughts of home were starting to infiltrate her thoughts once again. She had received many offers, some tempting, others not. Seattle Grace had been among the tempting ones but she had deferred for the twenty-seven months, promising to revisit the issue when she returned.

This however brought her another host of problems. Was Callie going to expect her to transfer to Seattle Grace? Did she want to? Of course she did…. She wanted to work with Callie and she definitely wanted to see Callie rocking out to some of them music of hers in an OR, but she wasn't normally a person to make a major life or career decision on a romantic whim. This however was entirely different. Nothing with Callie was _normal._

Callie smiled, oblivious to the inner turmoil Arizona was enduring. "What do you want to know?"

"Everything… Who works there, what it's like…" She found herself shrugging and turning to Callie with a nervous smile. "What do _you_ like about it?"

"Well, you've got The Chief… Richard Webber, but everyone calls him the chief. He's… He's a bit hard to describe, but he's an amazing surgeon, without a doubt one of the best I've ever seen. He's a good boss though, strict… but he still _knows _everyone…" Arizona grinned at the obvious admiration in Callie's tone. "Then there's Bailey…" A laugh escaped Callie's lips, though Arizona thought she might have seen a flash of homesickness. "Where to start? We were residents together, but she's The Chief's prodigy of sorts… She," Callie snorted. "She demands authority, and even the attending's who are technically higher up than she is will listen. It's kind of hilarious actually… God, she has this glare that she uses… She can frighten almost anyone into doing anything with even a glance…" Callie's words dissolved into fond laughter as Arizona's brow furrowed.

"If she's so… fearful… How is she still… I mean is she _mean_?" Callie laughed even more at that question for a minute before biting back more laughter and answering.

"I definitely wouldn't want to be one of her interns… but no, I wouldn't call her mean. She's an amazing friend and an amazing surgeon… My money's on her for Chief one day."

"What about… The _amazing _Dr. Shepherd… or whatever," she wrinkled her nose. "I've heard of him before…"

"Derek? Oh, he has an ego… Most attending's do, though with his reputation his really could be awful if it went to his head… He's nice though, good with his patients… I'm sure he's not as arrogant or as egotistical as you've heard."

"The neuro guys at the hospital in Chicago are awful," a frown twisted down her lips as she remembered a few of the less than pleasant conversations she had to endure on neuro consults. "All ego, no substance."

"Derek's not like that. Sure, he has his 'I'm Derek Shepherd, I'm world famous…blah blah' moments… but they're rare." She smirked, thinking of the wonderful things Bailey would have to say about Derek who she had first declared to be 'just a head of hair.'

"I've heard of you too, you know." She grinned, enjoying the surprise that flitted across Callie's face.

"How… when… huh?"

"I was at a conference, a few months before my term with the Peace Corps started," she saw Callie's brow furrow, knowing she was trying to remember. "Your cartilage research was extremely well received, if I remember correctly. I saw you talk for barely a few minutes because I had to stop off at a few other PEDs lectures that day… but even at the hospital where I worked they were talking about it." Callie blushed, looking away self-consciously.

"You saw me... uh… give a speech?" Callie bit her lip, hoping Arizona hadn't noticed how horrifically awful her public speaking skills were.

"Yep. It took me awhile to realize that I was bunking with _the _Callie Torres… But, that day with Tim, the second day?" Callie winced, nodding slightly. "That's when I figured it out. I hadn't made the connection before with Ortho, Seattle Grace and your name… but it all kind of… clicked."

"Clicked… huh?" Callie asked teasingly.

"You were amazing. You _are_ amazing," Arizona smiled, catching Callie's gaze. "Okay, now tell me about more people."

Rolling her eyes at Arizona's excitement, Callie continued. "Well… Owen and Mark are both attendings-"

"Mark, your best friend?"

Callie nodded. "He's in plastics, and he's a bit of a manwhore, but he's helped me through a lot of stuff. He's my rock, basically. And Owen… He was in the Army so he's very… serious and kind of intimidating… but he's helped me out more than once and not to mention he's Cristina's boyfriend so I see quite a bit of him… He's trauma by the way."

"Ohh!" Arizona's eyes lit up. "Tell me about Cristina, she sounds hilarious."

"Hilarious is not the word I would use," Callie grumbled, though Arizona caught the fond grin that passed over her expression. "She's unhealthily obsessed with cardio and it's no secret she has no time for anything else unless it's amazingly hardcore. She eats, sleeps and probably dreams surgery but she's amazing… Not that I'd ever tell her, because doesn't she know it, but she really is. As a roommate… Well… it's been interesting to say the least. She's good friend though, one of the best you really could ever ask for, if you can deal with the sarcasm and the know-it-all-ness that is Cristina Yang. Basically if she shares her tequila with you, she considers you to be… 'okay.'" Arizona giggled.

"She sounds… interesting…"

"Oh, she definitely is…" Callie smirked, imagining that Cristina must be in the middle of some OR right then, bossing some poor, un-suspecting interns around. She missed that. "Then you've got, Izzie, Alex, Lexie and Meredith… Izzie's a bit like you, perky… always cheery… Alex is the complete opposite of her, pretty much annoyed twenty four-seven. Mer is Cristina's best friend and Lexie is her sister… and Mark's fiancé."

"I don't think I can remember all that… but… What's it like _working _there?" She asked, not really knowing what kind of answer she wanted from Callie.

Listening to Callie talk about her colleges, like they were long-lost friends had only made her more aware of the difference between her relationship with her co-workers and Callie's with hers. Arizona wasn't_ friends_ with any of them… A few were nice enough, but she had made most of her friends outside of the hospital. She was just 'the PEDs surgeon' or 'Dr. Robbins' or even 'That one with the funny shoes.' She wasn't _Arizona_ to any of them.

"I couldn't really ask for a better place… I get to work with my best friends and even when it's hectic it's kind of like… we're all in this together… Everybody's up in everyone else's business, but at the end of the day… they're my friends, you know?" Arizona shook her head, she didn't know.

"It's not like that at all. God, half the time I don't even this people make friends at the hospital they just make 'alliances' or whatever…" Callie looked at her sympathetically.

"I feel like… I enjoy my job more because of the people I get to work with… For a bit I transferred hospital right after I finished my residency but I came back… It wasn't the same. I love what I do, but Seattle Grace is just… Seattle Grace…" She smiled, shaking her head. "Sorry… I can't really describe it…"

Arizona simply shrugged, letting out a contended sigh and allowing the silence between them stretch. After a few minutes however, Arizona felt Callie's gaze on her face, looking slightly apprehensive.

"You know I don't expect you… to… come work there… just because of," she gestured between the wordlessly. "We haven't talked about what's going to happen and that's okay… because living in the moment it a good thing… but I don't want you to feel pressured or anything, because I know you were considering it before you came here and everything… You should make the choice for, you… not… anything else…" Arizona felt herself grinning both at Callie's nervous rambling and at the sentiment behind her words.

"We should talk about it… when we get out of here, I mean because I don't think the jungle is really the best place for that conversation, especially while were both focusing more on the surviving side of things… But, I am still considering it and I can't lie and say I haven't thought about it… Working with you… and everything." Unexpectedly Arizona found herself met with a huge smile.

"You've thought about it?" Callie asked with a mixture of teasing and curiosity.

"Yeah… Is that okay? I don't want you to feel pressured either," she bit her lip nervously, watching for Callie's reaction.

"I like that you've been thinking about it… And whenever we decide we want to… we can talk about that stuff, but… yeah, it's more than _okay _that you're thinking about that kind of thing."

* * *

"Please, everybody!" A loud voice, made even louder by the sizeable microphone gripped in the man's hand, echoed across the small clearing. He looked exhausted as he stood before his group of volunteers, joined by three of Callie's friends and one woman who claimed to be a friend of Arizona's. The all looked worn out, dirty and as if they could use a few days of solid REM sleep. He sighed. "Guys, c'mon. Gather up!"

"Who the hell is this guy?" Cristina muttered, her elbow digging into Addison's side as she nudged the redhead. In response she received a discreet nudge, harder that necessary in Cristina's opinion, and a shrug.

"I don't know, group leader maybe?" Addison replied quietly, keeping her eyes fixed on the man with the megaphone.

"Hey!" Mark appeared, waving a pair of hiking shoes before tossing them at Addison's feet. "Put those on, were going to start hiking soon," he ordered, not looking foreword to the argument he knew was coming.

"What?" Addison threaded her finger through the loop at the back of one of the shoes. "I am so not-"

"Yes you are," Mart cut her off. "You can't hike in high heels as much as you may believe that you can… and you can't go barefoot, so," he pointed at the shoes. "Put those on."

"Oh my gosh, _the_ Addison Montgomery is going to-"

"Tread carefully Yang," Addison warned, glaring down at the offending footwear. "I have Richard's number in my cell and depending on how finish that sentence it could be weeks upon weeks of PEDs joy for you."

Cristina coughed, not bothering to disguise her glare as Addison flashed her a patronizing smile.

"I though so," she remarked at Cristina's stony silence.

"Yeah, yeah…" Cristina muttered, walking a few feet away and looking very much like she would hit Addison if given the chance.

"You know she would _never _do that, right?" Mark whispered in her ear conspiratorially.

"How do you know… She's pure gyne-evil," came the offended retort from the annoyed resident.

"I… uh…" Mark looked away, averting his eyes and coughing slightly.

"God, who haven't you slept with?" Cristina scoffed, crossing her arms over her chest.

"You," Mark answered, flashing her a suggestive grin.

"How's your fiancé, by the way?" Cristina inquired, an undercurrent of a threat marring her tone. "What if I tell her about all the-"

"Then, I might take a leaf out of Addison's book and put you on either PEDs or plastics for a few weeks, or… months…"

"Plastics? I would probably get an STD from just being in the same room with you for that long… no way…" She made a huge show of taking a few steps away from him.

"Hey!" He yelped, very much hurt. "I'm reformed and I'm engaged! And I don't have any STDs!"

"You never know," she replied simply, smirking.

"Yang!-"

"Everybody, gather up please!" Came the loud announcement through the megaphone. "Hurry up guys!" John yelled, watching as the scattered group assembled themselves in front of him. "Now, we have three groups. Sam, Robbins's friend… Joanne, Dr. Sloan, Dr. Yang, and Dr. Montgomery are in Group One. Ellen, Sara, Josh, Matthew and Chris, you're Group 2. Karen, Robert, Joey and myself will be Group 3. Stay TOGETHER and stay in radio contact. I have no intention of losing another one of you."

He pointed the three groups in different directions, telling them that this was the last place Callie and Arizona had been seen and telling them to radio in every half hour.

"How are the shoes?" Mark asked, walking up beside Addison who was staring intently down at the compass and the map.

"Fine," she murmured, tracing her fingers over the surface of the paper. "Gosh, where do we even start?"

"If I were Callie, where would I go?" Cristina muttered, turning in circles and almost bumping into Sam. "Sorry," she stepped away, following Mark and Addison who had began walking.

"It's fine… You work with Callie?" He asked, falling into step beside her. "You're a surgeon too?"

"Yep. Much better than Callie anyway… Totally…" Sam looked doubtful for a moment, as if he wasn't quite sure if she was joking or not but she simply kept walking, ignoring his confusion.

"That's not true," Addison called over her shoulder, eliciting a groan from the brunette. "Callie's an attending, our Cristina here is still a little_ baby_ surgeon. She's a resident and she's still learning."

"So," Sam looked between them curiously. "You're still a doctor, but you're like a surgeon… with training wheels?" Addison though that comment was hilariously funny, as Cristina glared at the both of them before stalking ahead as fast as she could.

"Training…wheels…"Addison gasped out between bursts of laughter. "Did you hear that Yang? That's perfect, _training wheels!" _Cristina didn't feel the need to dignify that as response and ignored the pair of them to nurse her bruised ego.

* * *

"Callie!" Mark yelled a few hours later, cupping his hands around his mouth. "Callie are you there?" When he received no answer he shrugged, looking helplessly at the four people, seated on the ground below him, all exhausted.

"Callie," Cristina yelled, much angrier sounding then Mark. "I'm freaking tired! Get out here so I can kick your ass for making me hike!" Both Sam and Arizona's friend, Joanne, looked very surprised at her outburst but Addison just shook her head, trying to hide a smile.

"Mature Yang, very mature." Cristina shrugged.

"I've been hiking for fives hours. Sure, I like Callie and all but… REALLY… God she's not worth this." She rested her head on her hands, slumping over in her exhaustion. She was lying, but… it was easier that way.

"Yes she is," Addison replied, shooting the brunette a glare. "I know you try to pretend the two of you aren't best friends, but the fact is you jumped on a plane to come and find her and I don't think you would have done that for many other people." Addison waiting for her to deny her statement but to her surprise Cristina just turned away, looking slightly saddened.

"She is." Cristina muttered, standing up and dusting off her knees. Walking past Mark and the rest of the group she walked toward the trees again knowing the rest of the group would follow her. "Of course she is, even though she's a _massive idiot_ for getting herself lost out here."

Mark and Addison shared a smirk, following as Cristina marched off into the jungle again to search for her 'non-friend.'

After another half an hour of walking, both Joanne and Addison had begged for a break, taking a second to rest on a rock that sat on the bank of a slow flowing river.

"Callie!" Mark tried again, yelling through the trees and out across the water. "Callie! C'mon!"

* * *

"Sh!" Callie jerked upright, holding a finger to her lips in a gesture for Arizona to keep silent. Callie concentrated, appearing to be listening for something that Arizona couldn't hear.

"Callie, what are you-" Callie just shook her head, getting up and walking a few feet down the river. Arizona felt herself growing more and more confused as Callie still wouldn't make a sound.

"Mark!" She yelled suddenly, making Arizona jump about a foot into the air. "Or whoever that is!"

"Callie are you insane? Mark is not here!" She hissed, slightly concerned for the brunette's sanity at the point.

"Just listen," Callie demanded, hushing Arizona again. With a pout firmly fixed in her lips, Arizona remained silent, prepared for hearing nothing… No one… The same way it had been for two weeks. No one.

"Callie?' A voice echoed through the trees, faint, but definitely _not_ no one.

Arizona jumped up, almost stumbling across the smooth surface of the rock as Callie grabbed her hand pulling her through the trees in the direction of the voice.

"Mark?" Callie yelled again, before turning to Arizona. "That's Mark voice, call me crazy, but I know it is."

"Okay," Arizona was breathless with excitement. "You're crazy, but I believe you all the same."

"Callie, oh my god!" The voice was closer now, much closer and it was joined by several other voices.

"Callie!" That was Addison… Callie was wondering if she had just been out in the jungle for way too long but she would swear that was Addison Montgomery's voice.

"Get out here Torres, so I can kick you ass!" _Cristina? _Callie wondered, gripping Arizona's hand tighter as they moved quickly through the trees.

"Arizona? Arizona you there?"

"I mean it Callie! Where the hell-" Cristina again… of course.

"Callie?" The voice was close now… so unbelievably close.

Then, she saw him… Or rather… them… They were all staring into the trees intently, looking for her… They had come… to find… her. Mark saw her first, letting out a yell and running toward her.

She crashed into him, feeling his arms wrap around her tightly the instant they came into contact. Her face was buried in his chest, as Arizona watched the two of them with a huge smile on her face. They were obviously very close, but the smile was only to be momentary as she hadn't seen who was behind them yet.

"Mark… how did you…" She pulled back slightly, her voice becoming less muffled as she looked up at him.

"They called me… I probably yelled a bit too much when they told me that had lost you… but… yeah… And, now we've found you…" She smiled, and a matching grin formed on his face as he looked down at the best friend who, for a few days, he hadn't been sure if he would see again. "I'm so glad we found you... Oh my gosh, I had to sit on a plane for ten hours with the two of them" He jerked a thumb over his shoulder. "It was torture, both of them together... they're like oil and water... They DON'T mix... ever."

"Hey," Addison demanded, "move over!" She pulled Callie into a hug, then pulled away wearing a huge smile though Callie could see she had been crying.

"Addison… wow… I… just… Hold on…" She looked down for a second, wondering why her friend was so much shorter than she remembered. "You're not wearing high heels!" She exclaimed, eliciting a laugh from the one person she expected to see there least in the world: Cristina.

"That's what you notice!" Addison mock-scowled. "I hike miles through the jungle to find you and you notice my shoes… geez… Callie." She shot Mark a glare, he obviously was responsible for this new humiliation.

"I'll make an exception to my no hugs rule," Cristina said, pulling Callie into an awkward hug that Callie returned. "Though you've been stuck in the jungle for two weeks so I'm pretty sure you smell pretty ripe."

"It's nice to see you too, Cristina," Callie felt a genuine smile cross her lips that Cristina unexpectedly returned. "Really… even with the humor."

Arizona who had been watching this entire seen with amusement and hugging Sam gratefully was suddenly torn from the little happy bubble that had been the last few minutes. "Arizona!" A loud voice called as a woman ran quickly through the trees.

Joanne paused, briefly, not taking in Arizona's stunned expression before kissing her, full on the lips.

* * *

**(Arizona's POV) **

_I said, you have to get lost to be found. But, what if you don't like what you find? Sometimes what finds you is not what you expected, isn't what you wanted or hoped for._

_Sometimes it's better to simply stay lost._

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**A/N: Don't hate me... Please... I might have to hide behind that pillow again, *takes out pillow***

**Also, I didn't have time to edit this chapter... I might do it tomorrow, late-ish but I doubt it.**

**Reviews are like a box of chocolates... you never know what you're gonna get. XD **


	17. Always Say Goodbye

**A/N: This chapter is a bit of a monster. The writer's block is gone though, so yay!**

**A huge cyber hug, to everyone who left a review. You guys are pure awesomeness =D Oh and thanks to Xam21 for giving me the idea for Butterflies and Hurricanes. I'm going to try to work it in over the next few chapters :)**

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**New History**

**Chapter Seventeen: Always Say Goodbye**

**_Well, I guess this is quite a mess that we got caught in  
It's best if we just confess that we have fallen  
And love is problematique when you feel  
Like a fanatic of a person that you barely know_**

**_The trigger's been pulled, there's no use in running  
So let's bite the bullet and take what we've got coming  
Forget the contemplation situation's complicated  
And I'm thinking we should let it roll_**

**-Problematique by Hot Chelle Rae**

_What the heck? _Those three words swirled around in Callie's brain as she watched a woman. Another woman. As in someone that was not _her,_ press her lips against Arizona's, wrapping her arms around the blonde's body in only a way _she _should be able to. It was purely possessive. It wasn't friendly. Neither Addison nor Mark had walked up to her and shoved their tongues down her throat as a way of saying 'I'm so glad your alive, thanks for not dying in the wilderness…' Hugs were fine. Hugs were _great_. Why hadn't this woman gotten the memo?

Her three friends still surrounded her. They were talking, touching her, constantly pulling her into hugs almost as if to reassure themselves that she was actually there. But, she couldn't hear a word they were saying. A few feet away she heard Sam talking excitedly into a walkie-talkie, obviously informing John of their success in finding the runaway surgeons. However her eyes were still trained on the two women. The rest of the world melted away for just a few seconds and all she saw was Arizona and… _that._

She watched as Arizona pushed the other woman away. Instantly Arizona searched through the small group of people, her eyes finding Callie within moments and Callie could see the fear and apology practically radiating from those blue eyes. Arizona shook her head; her gaze flicking between the woman whose arm was dangerously low around her waist and Callie who was standing a few feet away, mute. That gaze triggered something within the brunette though and she felt her lips curve up into the hint of a grin and her shoulders move into a shrug. With that small gesture, she turned back to her friend's… Arizona had a girlfriend… shit. So, she pretended not to care.

"Hey," Mark's hand waved in front of her face. "Earth to Callie. We have to walk back, just half a mile and John is going to bring a jeep to pick the two of you up." She felt his arm wrap around her shoulders from one side where Addison's slid around her waist as they walked. Cristina who had broken her no hug rule once already that day had returned to avoiding all forms of human contact, but she kept sneaking glances in Callie's direction, walking barely a foot away from the three of them.

"Sounds good," she replied, nestling her head against his shoulder. "How long have you guys been here?"

"Just three days," Addison answered. "We jumped on a plane the minute we heard. Though it took them two freaking weeks to call us… I bet you could totally sue them Callie," she nudged her friend with a smirk.

"It's the Peace Corps, Addison," Callie scoffed, laughing. "Suing them would just be… wrong… Plus, I'm sure they were looking for us during those two weeks."

"Well we found you within three days," Cristina cut in, for once agreeing with Addison on something. "We're not even trained for this sort of thing and that probably says more about their incompetence than it does about our outstanding wilderness tracker skills. Addison wanted to wear high heels for god's sake!" She added re-solidifying the animosity between them that had disappeared in that brief moment of agreement.

"Well, next time I get lost I'll be sure to call the three of you to come get me… I'm still not suing the Peace Corps," Callie mock scowled at the three of them as Addison opened her mouth in protest.

"Oh no." Mark used her free hand to gesture between the two women. "Call _either_ Addison _or_ Cristina. DO NOT call both. It was horrible. I felt like a babysitter having to prevent two little toddlers from killing each other over a toy."

"You poor baby," Callie teased. Addison and Cristina shared a smirk; something that Mark had only expected to happen when hell had frozen over. "It must have been hard for you, surrounded by grown women for three days."

"Yeah," Cristina smirked in his direction. "How old is Lexie again? Are you sure you don't have to babysit _her_?"

"Guys, guys, guys. Wait," Addison held up a hand. "Remember we shouldn't be to hard on him." Mark breathed a sigh of relief that was cut short as Addison finished her sentence. "He_ is_ a grandpa after all, his mind is fragile."

Cristina bit back a laugh. "I'm sorry Mark, really… getting old must be hard for you."

"This is the one thing you agree on," he scowled. "You spend the plane ride arguing about surgery, the walk to the car arguing about footwear, the car _ride _almost tearing each other's hair out over who got to choose the music and now… you agree. God, I've missed you Callie, you're not half as annoying as they are."

Arizona watched the four of them talk as Joanne walked beside her. She made sure to keep a careful boundary of space between them despite the fact that Joanne seemed determined to invade it. She didn't really know what had happened. First it had been all happy and… yay… That stupid Joanne, her very EX girlfriend decided to run up and kiss her. On the lips. Who the heck does that? Why the heck was she even there to begin with?

"Guys! Oh my gosh!" John yelled; breaking Arizona out of the staring contest she had been having with the back of Callie's head. "You're okay, right? I didn't even know… I mean… We've been looking for two weeks and-"

"John," Callie managed a smile. It was obvious he had been frantic and though John with his annoyingly loud mega-phone had never been her favorite person, she wanted to re-assure them. "We're okay. It was a rough two weeks, but no harm, no foul." Arizona nodded, echoing her statement but her blue eyes strayed all too often to Callie's face. She tried sending telepathic messages, _look at me. It didn't mean anything. She's… Joanne… She's not anything to me… _Her heart swelled in her chest as Callie turned her head ever so slightly to look in her direction but at that moment stupid Joanne decided to put her arm around Arizona's waist. Callie looked between them for a moment, her frown deepening across her lips before she turned away.

Arizona had never really wanted to hit anyone so badly in her life except for maybe Julie Goldman in the third grade who had teased her about being named Arizona for a full year. But still, this was different. This was a grown up problem… though, very deep _deep_ down there was a third-grade Arizona who still wished she had punched Julie Goldman… She really deserved it.

John helped them both into the jeep as their friends, Joanne included to Arizona's relief, had to wait for the rest of the group.

"I'm going to take them back to get cleaned up," John yelled from the driver's seat. "Just sit tight. The rest of the group should be here in under half an hour with the rest of the vans to take you guys back."

Mark nodded, sitting down on a rock and making sure to leave a sizeable gap between him and either Cristina or Addison who seemed to find tag teaming him extremely funny.

"So," John turned to the two of them in the backseat as he revved the engine. "How did it happen? You guys weren't that far behind… Were you guys even the last in the group?"

"Oh…" Arizona blushed as both John and Callie looked at her expectantly. "We stopped… we thought we saw something and I guess we walked a little to far away. When we looked for you guys you were already gone…" Callie raised her eyebrows as Arizona's liberal use of the 'facts' concerning their disappearance.

John merely shrugged, turning back to the steering wheel and pulling away from the group of people now all seated on various rocks. Callie turned back to wave at Mark, Addison and Cristina but out of the corner of her eye she caught sight of Joanne waving to Arizona and jerked back into her seat.

"Callie," Arizona had completely ignored Joanne as she leaned across the seat. "Callie, it's not what you think… I promise."

"Not here," came the cold reply.

"Fine," Arizona let out an exasperated huff of air. "But, you do not get to be mad at me about this until I get a chance to explain."

Callie just nodded but Arizona saw a hint of a smile ghost across the brunette's lips.

* * *

"I'm going to explain now," Arizona announced the second Callie walked out of the bathroom. When they had gotten back to their dorm, Callie had insisted they both take showers and rest a bit before talking. Arizona knew when she was being avoided, and so she decided ambush was the best course of action. After she had taken a shower and washed all of the accumulated dirt and grime she hadn't been able to remove even when using the river as a pseudo-shower she had staked out the bathroom doorway from Callie's bed, waiting to pounce.

"Oh, you are, are you?" Callie simply raised an eyebrow as she used a towel to dry her hair.

"Yes," Arizona gulped, trying to ignore the fact that Callie was standing in front of her, wearing nothing but a t-shirt and underwear.

"I can't get dressed first?" She gestured toward her attire, as her fingers combed through her hair.

"Okay," Arizona conceded, biting her lip. "That might be a good idea."

"Well, thank you for giving me permission," Arizona laughed nervously in response, averting her gaze as Callie walked over to the other side of the room and began pulling clothes out of the cramped chest of drawer's they shared.

"Ready?" Arizona called out a few minutes later.

"Yeah," Callie walked back over. Arizona felt the bed dip as Callie sat down a few feet away from her. "So… Who is this Joanne?" The brunette asked bluntly.

"She's my girlfriend," Arizona winced as she felt Callie flinch. "I mean _was_… She was my girlfriend."

"Okay," Callie paused. "I had kind of gathered as much… I still don't get the kissing part."

"We just… we never really ended," again she felt Callie stiffen. "Don't get me wrong, I definitely knew it was over and I thought she did too. We were a mess, a whole bunch of stops and starts. She cheated on me at one point but she managed to worm her way back into my life and I forgave her… Toward the end, right before I left I had made it pretty clear I wanted to end things… She just… didn't let go too well… obviously."

"Hold on," Callie fixed her with a brown-eyed stare. Arizona knew it was going to be bad before Callie even uttered a word; her eyes gave her away. "Did she know it was over? Did she _know_?"

"Yes," Arizona stuttered. "I mean, I think she did."

"How? How exactly did things end?" Callie inquired; asking the question Arizona had feared since this conversation had began.

"I… I got on a plane… and came here…" Her finger weakly dug into the bedspread as shame flooded her cheeks. "But you have to understand Callie, I had told her that I thought we should end it… but she didn't get it, she thought-"

"I can't," Callie closed her eyes before opening them and looking at Arizona sadly.

"Why?" Arizona desperately scooted foreword, seeking some form of contact that would remind Callie of what they had. She settled to grasping Callie's hand. "I don't want her. She knew it before I left. She knew we were over."

"I can't because I know what it feels like to be _her,_" Callie replied softly, her words hitting Arizona with the strength of fists, ripping the air from her lungs.

Slowly, Callie sat foreword. "I had a girlfriend… my first girlfriend, Erica. We argued a lot, we were both new to the whole girl thing… and I did cheat on her… sort of… but I thought we had gotten past it. About a month later, we got into an argument, some stupid fight about hospital policy… Nothing to end a relationship over…" Callie bit her lip, looking up at Arizona. "But she walked off. I thought I would see her back at the apartment that night, or at work the next day. Nope. She got on a plane too…" Her voice trailed off but Arizona could finish the rest.

"No…" She breathed, reaching out a clutching at Callie's hand. "It's different. Joanne and I were a mess… It's not the same Callie. I would never-"

"I _know _what she's feeling, Arizona… It sucks… But, she came for you after you left her almost two years ago…" She sighed. "You _really_ need to talk."

"Okay," she let a ragged sigh escape her lips. "But after we do… after I tell her it's over… After I make her understand that we should have broken up two years ago… Can we…" She looked up hopefully, but Callie was already getting up off of the bed, and walking toward the door.

"Maybe," she managed a smile but Arizona ached to see that the look in her beautiful brown eyes had changed. "I'm not going to lie and say that I don't want to… but… Arizona," she almost shrugged as if she was giving up among the weight of everything. "I…"

"We asked me if we were girlfriends… We were dating Callie. You called me your girlfriend… You can't just throw it all away… It means something…" Callie looked at her with a sad smile.

"That was before I knew you already had one," the door closed behind her with that one final, dire sentence hanging in the air.

* * *

"What the heck did you do?" Two hours later, Arizona's door banged open with a loud thud as two people walked into her room, talking very loudly. Blearily, she lifted her head from where she had buried it among the pillows and looked at two people who looked extremely angry and extremely familiar. Mark and Cristina… Callie's friends.

"Sorry," she mumbled, sitting up. "Calliope's not here." Both of them looked taken aback for an instant at the sound of Callie's full name but the loathing soon returned.

"We're here to ask _you_," the brunette replied. Arizona was slightly frightened to be honest. If this were a movie, this would be the moment when the two people would kill her and hide the body. Not that she was worried about that… much. "So spill," Cristina continued. "What did you do?"

"I have no idea," Arizona's fingers knotted in the bed sheets as she leaned her head against the wall. "What are you talking about?"

"Callie is in Addison's room right now, crying her eyes out." Mark crossed his arms over his chest. "And I would kind of like to know why. All she said was something about Erica and Arizona… Seeing as Erica is long gone, we decided to come ask you."

"You didn't come to ask, you came to practically break my door down and yell." She murmured, refusing to meet their eyes as guilt flooded through her chest. Callie's crying… She had made Callie cry… She was supposed to make Callie smile, or laugh, maybe frown sometimes but never cry.

"Sorry about that," Cristina didn't look very sorry. "But Callie doesn't cry often, and when she does it's usually followed by an increase in Tequila consumption… A large increase… So we decided to try to avoid that event seeing as there is probably no tequila around here."

"She broke up with me," Arizona said flatly, gazing fixedly at the wall.

"Woah-"

"Wait." Mark looked at her curiously as he cut off Cristina's retort. "You wouldn't by any chance be Callie's bunkmate… would you?"

"That's me. Bunkmate… non-girlfriend… I also go by Arizona on very rare occasions…"

"Callie called me about you," Mark said, a slow smirk crossing his face. "You're the one that called her a lesbian baby!"

"Newborn. The term is newborn," Arizona replied her lips quirking down in annoyance. She really regretted doing that, it seemed to always come back to haunt her.

"I feel like I'm missing something here," Cristina waved her hand between Mark and Arizona. "Explain. Please."

"Callie called me a few months ago talking about her bunkmate… She was freaked because she had a huge crush on Blondie over here," he pointed at Arizona. "But, Blondie had called her a newborn… whatever that is… Apparently Callie and her bunkmate ended up together after all." Arizona resisted the strong urge to cry at the lasted reminder to what she had thrown away. Everything had been great… just super until stupid Joanne had to show up and ruin everything. Arizona wasn't juvenile enough to believe in her heart that it was truly Joanne's fault… but she was childish enough to try to convince herself of that.

"Obviously not," Cristina said dryly. "They broke up."

"So _you_ are Arizona Robbins," He looked her over for a minute, giving Arizona the odd feeling she was under inspection. After a few seconds he seemed to remember why that had barged into her room in the first place. "Still, why is Callie all upset…? She just got _out _of the jungle… that's a good thing…"

"My ex-girlfriend is here… I didn't exactly end things with her before I left…" She fumbled with the sheets again.

"So, you've been cheating?" Cristina asked dryly before leaning toward Mark. "Callie would be a bit of a hypocrite to get pissed off about that." She added, lowering her voice.

"I haven't been cheating, both of us knew it was over. We were never good together, she cheated… we fought," her shoulders hunched up into a shrug.

"So you two have been… dating… This entire time?" Arizona nodded. "Why did your ex even show up then?"

"She was my emergency contact and… I might not have… told her… you know, _formally_ that we were breaking up." From where she was sitting, Arizona could see that neither of them looked particularly impressed.

"You just… got on a plane?" Cristina scoffed. However, when Arizona nodded again, her eyes widened in surprise. Arizona really had no idea why she was talking to them at all. She barely knew their names.

"She told me about Erica," Arizona added quietly, looking up at the both of them. "I think she felt bad for Joanne… that's my ex."

"Okay," Cristina turned, resting her hand on the doorknob. "I don't do the touchy feely part of things… Now that I know what happened, I'm good. I'm off to go hunt down some Tequila. Good luck Blondie." She nodded at Mark, throwing Arizona a half-hearted wave before stepping out of the room and closing the door behind her.

"Don't mind her," Mark glanced toward the door, as if he wanted to make sure Cristina was actually gone. "She cares, she is just too emotionally stunted to verbalize any of it."

"No love lost between the two of you, I see?" Arizona managed a small smile but it didn't come close to her eyes. "But she's exactly the way Callie described her…"

"Oh?" Mark raised an eyebrow. "And, what did she say about me?"

"She said you were a good friend, the best anyone could ask for… She said you were a bit of a manwhore, and she told me about the time you were sprayed by a skunk." A tired laugh escaped her lips as Mark assumed an offended frown.

"She just had to bring that up, didn't she?" He complained.

"What am I going to do?" Arizona's voice cut through the silence that had settled between them. "I honestly thought Joanne knew we were over."

"She told you about Erica, but knowing Callie I'm sure she glossed over how hard she took it. She was like roboCallie. She did her job, but for a long time she didn't _feel_ anything." He sighed and sat down in the single chair that Callie had shoved into the corner of their room. "She thinks Joanne deserves what she never got, a goodbye... an explanation."

"Joanne is nothing compared to Callie. What happened between us was very different. We were together, off an on for two years. By the end, I was so tired of her drama that I just wanted an out." She sunk down among the pillows. "Joanne and I… She was… But Calliope… She…"

Mark smirked. "She tends to have that effect on people." He paused, looking thoughtful. "But, if you want her back, you need to show her that you and Erica aren't the same. She's probably afraid that what happened with Erica would happen again with you… and if you did that with Joanne…"

Arizona nodded, "It looks like I would just go and do it again."

"So my suggestion is, talk with Joanne." He stood up, flashing a smile and walking toward the door. "I should go find Callie and stop Cristina before she gives her the tequila… knowing her… she'll find some." He let out a fond laugh. "I don't know you very well, Blondie. But, you don't seem to bad. You'll figure her out."

"You love her don't you?" Came the soft voice from the bed as he stood by the door. An even wider grin appeared over his lips.

"Yeah, but not the way you do." Her eyes widened as he simply smirked, shutting the door behind him.

* * *

Callie was lying on Addison's bed. Her head was buried among the mess of pillows and blankets and her fingers tapped out an agitated beat against the mattress. She had known. She had known that the second they emerged from that wonderful little world they had created in the jungle that everything would come crashing down. It had done so spectacularly and yet Callie was extremely upset at being proven right. From across the room, Addison watched her best friend, torn between sadness and amusement at that moment.

After a very long, complicated explain that Callie had managed to stutter out between sobs Addison had a very basic understanding of the situation and why exactly her friend was ensconced in a pillow fort.

"Callie, just…" She leaned foreword as Callie reluctantly pulled her head from the pillows. "Can't you try to see from her perspective?"

"You're supposed to be on my side," she moaned. "I don't want stupid perspective."

"Just listen. What if Erica came back one day and started acting like your girlfriend… like nothing had happened?"

"Addison this isn't going to work-"

"Listen!" The redhead demanded. She was slightly proud of her logic in this bit of problem solving. "You know the relationship between you and Erica is over… But what if she came back… or what if you went to see her and started acting like her girlfriend again?" Callie frowned which Addison took as a small victory.

"It would be… weird."

"Exactly. But, that's what happened with Arizona, isn't it? From what you've told me she thought the relationship was over. She had walked away from it. But now, almost two years later her ex-girlfriend walks up and kisses her."

"So?"

"To her, the relationship was over," Addison exclaimed. "It's not like she was cheating. To her, she was single. Think of how weird that must be."

"But she did what Erica did… No one deserves that… I don't want that... again," Callie replied, burying her head in the pillow again.

"You don't know the circumstances…" Addison remarked comfortingly. "All she told you was she walked away and that they had been a mess… It's not the same, Callie. It's really not."

"Geez, Addison. When did you become so wise and relationship guru-like?" Callie looked at her best friend in surprise.

"Lots of things change in two years, Callie," Addison answered solemnly, before cracking a smile.

"That sounds like a can of worms," the brunette sat up, looking at her friend with concern. "Is everything okay?"

"This coming from the woman who was sobbing into a pillow five minutes ago?"

"Just answer the question," Callie replied, playfully throwing a pillow in Addison's direction.

"I'm fine… I'm good… I guess…" Addison smiled.

"You're not fooling me, Addison." Callie mock-scowled. "What's up?"

"There was this whole fiasco with Pete and Violet and their baby… He really messed with my head. Before that though I had talked to Naomi about fertility options and everything-"

"Fertility?" Callie exclaimed. "Addison Montgomery if you had a baby and didn't bother to give me a phone call I am going to seriously kick you ass."

"No," Addison looked almost sad for a moment. "Apparently I can't… you know… have kids…" She sighed, forcing a smile as Callie looked at her in shock.

"Addie…" She quickly got off of the bed, walking over to where Addison was sitting in a chair and pulled the redhead into a hug. "I'm sorry… I feel like a total idiot…" Against her cheek Callie felt Addison shake her head.

"Don't be stupid Callie, you couldn't have known." She rested her head on her friend's shoulder.

"I'm still sorry…" She looked down at the tired face of her best friend. "You're okay, though… right? I mean… you could adopt… or…" Callie bit her lips, realizing she was rambling about a rather sensitive topic. "Sorry."

"I've definitely missed that rambling of yours," she smiled, looking up at Callie and nodding. "But, yeah. I'm okay. And, I have Sam now…"

"Good… that's good…"

"We're kind of a sad pair, aren't we?" Addison asked a few moments later, her head still nestled against Callie's shoulder. The brunette shook with laughter.

"Yeah, we kind of are." Addison laughed, shoving her friend away.

"But, at least one of us has a chance at not being so pathetic." She pointed toward the door. "You should go talk to Arizona… or at least see her… Make sure she knows you haven't run off."

"You sure?" She looked at Addison, searching to a trace of the former sadness on her best friend's face.

"I can do without you for a few moments," Addison laughed, getting up and practically shoving her out of the door. "Go." Callie nodded, smiling as her best friend closed the door.

Callie walked quickly down the hall, making her way up the flight of stairs until she was right in front of Arizona's door. Well... technically, their door. Nerves twisted in her stomach at the thought of seeing Arizona again. She had no idea what to say. She reached for the doorknob but the sound of two women talking inside of stilled her hand. Unable to get the better of her curiosity, she leaned foreword, listening.

"_Joanne we need to talk… I have no idea what you expect from me after all this time, but we will talk." _Callie recognized that voice as Arizona's.

"_Fine, Zona." _That was someone she didn't recognize. Joanne, she assumed. _"But when? Knowing you, I'll come back tomorrow to find you've jetted off to another continent."_

"_I'm sorry about that… really, unbelievably sorry… but… I can't… Tomorrow. We can talk tomorrow." _She heard Arizona sigh and the sound of furniture creaking.

"_When should I come back?"_

"_Early… around ten… or something? Whenever really…" Arizona's voice trailed off._

"_Okay, then." _Callie backed away as she heard the sound of footsteps moving toward the door.

"_You should know this doesn't change anything, Joanne. We're still broken up..." _The footsteps stopped.

"_Why does it have to be that way Zona?"_

"_I'm in love with someone else." _This time Callie stepped back voluntarily. She watched with wide eyes as Joanne yanked the door open, staring at Callie in the hallway with surprise.

"Is it you?" She asked angrily. "You stole my freaking girlfriend!"

"I… uh-" Callie stuttered.

"Joanne, I'll see you tomorrow… okay?" Arizona interrupted sharply, appearing in the doorway. The brunette just nodded, shooting Callie a glare out of the corner of her eye. As Joanne turned the corner, Arizona stepped back into the room. "Sorry about that, Calliope… she was always a bit… hot tempered."

"It's fine," Callie murmured as she followed Arizona inside. The second the door closed behind them, Arizona turned to face her, looking at her with those blue eyes that never failed to make her heart beat just a little bit faster.

"I want you to know, I'm going to talk to her… tomorrow" She watched for Callie's reaction. "But after… I… I want to talk to you…"

"Okay," Callie replied quietly, her mind still reeling from what she had overheard in the conversation between Arizona and her… ex-ish girlfriend.

"Well… goodnight… then, I guess." It was then Callie noticed that Arizona was already clad in her pajamas.

"Good night, Arizona." The blonde held her gaze for a minute before offering a small smile and walking toward the bed.

Callie did the same, quickly changing into her pajamas and flicking the lights off before getting into her own bed. However, she was still wide awake. That one sentence, it repeated over and over in her mind.

"_I'm in love with someone else."_

_

* * *

_

**A/N: And the drama continues...**

**From a Whisper to a Scream is next... while I figure out the next couple chapters of Butterflies and Hurricanes. Updates will be coming a but slower for the next few days... but not for too long :) I'll probably update tomorrow... or the next day... I dunno.**

**I'll edit this chapter tomorrow... must. sleep. now.**

**Reviews are like Arizona, because they're right and awesome.**


	18. Wonderwall

**A/N: So first, EDH asked me a question... Both Callie and Arizona have been with the Peace Corps for almost two years but they transferred to Africa and met each other for the last six months of their term (the full term would have been 27 months). I KNOW this doesn't happen in the Peace Corps, but for the premise of this story... that's the way it worked out.**

**Second thanks for all of the reviews, you guys never cease to amaze me with your awesome-ness.**

**RE-UPDATED... Edited version, plus I re-posted 'cos there was some... weird logistical problem...**

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* * *

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**New History**  
**Chapter Eighteen: Wonderwall **

**_And all the roads we have to walk are winding  
And all the lights that lead the way are blinding  
There are many things that I  
Would like to say to you  
But I don't know how_**

_**I said maybe**  
**You're gonna be the one that saves me**  
**And after all**  
**You're my wonderwall**  
_**-Wonderwall by Oasis **

Callie woke up slowly. The first brief touches of sunlight poured in through the small window on the far wall, bathing the small room in an early morning glow as she slipped into consciousness. In contrast to almost every single morning since her parents had purchased her first alarm clock, a pink, pig-shaped contraption that oinked instead of beeped and that her ten year old self had detested, she didn't find herself rolling over and going back to sleep. Instead she sat up, brushing a stray strand of hair behind her ear as she did so.

Out of almost three months of habit, Callie's eyes immediately strayed to Arizona's side of the room. In the absence of the tousled blonde curls and blanket cocoon Callie found most mornings, the blanket had been messily tossed across the empty bed, and the sheets had been pulled taunt over the mattress. Arizona was gone. She wasn't exactly surprised, but she still would have preferred even a glimpse of the blonde before she had disappeared for the day. Arizona's morning cheer and her hatred for 'wasting the daylight' had become a constant in Callie's morning routine over the past few months, and without Arizona perky insistence that she get out of bed, she felt increasingly sluggish.

That was until she smelled it. Coffee.

The tempting aroma wafted in her direction from a flimsy paper cup that had been placed on the small table next to her bed. Eagerly she grabbed the coffee, wrapping her fingers around the paper cup and allowing the warmth to spread through her hands. However, as she clutched the cup she noticed a small piece of paper out of the corner of her eye.

Callie's lips quirked up into a smile when she recognized the curly script that adorned the scrap of paper. Taking a long sip, she reached for the note and brought it close to her face.

_Calliope,_

_I had to leave early, sorry. I know you'll probably sleep for hours without me there to drag you out of bed, but I hope this isn't cold when you find it._

_Can we talk tonight? You probably want to spend time with Cristina, Mark and Addison but maybe we could talk late-ish? I'll be in the dorm this evening if you want to find me. :)_

_Enjoy the coffee._

_XOXX_

_AZ_

A huge grin transformed the brunette's features as she finished the note. She took another long sip of coffee. It was still wonderfully warm, leaving Callie with the comforting thought that it couldn't have been longer than a few minutes since Arizona had placed the cup beside her bed, scribbled the note and left their dorm.

"Hey Callie?" A fist banged loudly against the door. "Callie, you _have _to be awake." She recognized Cristina's voice, along with the rather rude greeting, instantly.

The relaxed smile was replaced with a tired frown as Cristina continued to slam her fist forcefully against the door.

"Yeah, Cristina. I'm up!" She called back, seeing no alternative. The resident would undoubtedly just keep banging if she didn't answer. The banging stopped and in its place came the sound of a key being inserted into a lock.

"Good." Cristina remarked as she walked through the door, not bother to explain exactly how she had come into possession of the key to Callie's dorm. "The freaking time difference, I didn't get any sleep last night." She complained, plopping down on the edge of Callie's bed.

"Hmm?" Callie hummed in sympathetic agreement as she gulped down another sip of coffee. "Yeah-"

"Where did you get that?" Cristina interrupted.

"What?" Callie looked up in confusion as Cristina eyed the coffee cup jealously.

"The coffee." Cristina's finger jabbed accusingly in the direction of the coffee cup in Callie's hands. "Seriously. I. Need. Some."

"Arizona brought it for me," Callie smirked slightly, taking another lingering drink as Cristina watched, her mouth slightly open.

"I though you guys were all broken up," Cristina whined. "Why do _you_ get coffee? I mean we went to talk to her and everything…"

"Whoa," Callie leaned foreword, making sure to keep the coffee cup out of Cristina's stealthy reach. "You went to _talk_ to her? When? Where? _Why?"_

"What, do you think we traumatized her or something?" Cristina appeared faintly offended. "We talked, no big deal, _Calliope."_

"Do _not_ call me that," her lips curved into a deeper frown at the sound of her full name.

"Why not? Blondie does… Calliope. _Calliope…_" Cristina teased. "It's a bit of a mouthful."

"Cristina, you came out to Africa and hiked through the jungle to find me, so I am very grateful. But, if you call me that again I _will_ punch you." Cristina shifted a few more inches away. "Only my parents… and Arizona call me my full name."

"Fine," the resident's hands raised in mock-surrender. "Have it your way as I'd like to leave my extremities punch-free. Seriously though, if you're broken up why is she leaving you coffee?"

"We're friends…" Callie bit her lip, shifting her gaze down at Arizona's note briefly. "I… uh… think."

"Sure you are," Cristina scoffed. "But since it's what _friends_ do… and I had a hand in our very heroic rescue in the jungles of Africa… Where's my coffee?"

"Are Mark and Addie up?" Callie asked, snaking her legs out from beneath the covers and getting out of bed. She stretched before leaning over and tossing her coffee cup into the garbage can.

"Yeah, we stayed up all night. Being on the other side of the world is not good for our sleeping schedule."

"What did you guys _do_?" She asked skeptically. She couldn't really picture Cristina, Mark and Addison spending extended amounts of time together.

"Played cards mostly. One of the guys in your group lent us a deck. I kicked Mark's ass at poker, but Addison was actually kind of… okay… at poker."

"She beat you, didn't she?" Callie asked. At one of Mark's parties while Addison had worked at Seattle Grace Callie had discovered to her surprise and annoyance that Addison was extremely good at poker. She had mentioned something about her brother teaching her how to play in college but Callie distinctly remembered that she had never once beat Addison at a poker game the few times they had played.

"That's not important," Cristina replied, an answer that Callie took to mean yes, Addison had beaten her. "Anyway, are you and Blondie hanging out today?"

"No. She's talking with… someone…"

"Her ex?" Callie's eyes widened in surprise as Cristina's question.

"Yeah… How did you…?"

Cristina shrugged again, "I told you. We talked."

Callie nodded, still slightly nervous about the idea of Cristina and Arizona having a lengthy conversation. While Addison and Arizona seemed like they would potentially get along, Callie had never pegged Cristina to make any effort to talk to her… bunkmate.

"Well, give me maybe ten minutes and I'll show all three of you where to get coffee." She smirked. "But since it's about six p.m. in Seattle you three will be headed to bed soon."

* * *

"Joanne," Arizona hesitantly called through the door that her ex-girlfriend had left ajar. She stood awkwardly in the doorway as Joanne stumbled into the living room, looking extremely confused.

"Zona?" She yawned, shaking her head apologetically. "I thought you wanted me to go to your dorm at ten," she glanced down at her watch. "It's only nine fifteen…"

"Calliope was sleeping," Arizona didn't miss the obvious distaste that appeared over Joanne's face at the mention of her bunkmate. "I didn't know if she would be up by ten and I didn't want to wake her…"

"Of course not," Joanne muttered under her breath before attempting a smile. "Well then… You're here I guess, come in." She gestured toward the small table as she walked back into the kitchen. "Want anything to eat?"

"No thanks. I already ate." Arizona was tempted to ask Joanne if she could come back later, but she was determined not to put off a conversation she should have had two years ago. "We were… going to uhm… talk?"

"Yeah," Joanne walked back into the main room again, taking a seat at the small table and taking a bite out of a piece of toast. "Sure, Zona…"

Arizona sat down nervously across from her. She had thought of a million things she was going to say. While Callie had slept last night she had tried to picture exactly how this conversation would go, trying to imagine what Joanne was going to say and trying to figure out what she would say in response… It all seemed like a wasted effort at that moment as Joanne simply watched her curiously from the other side of the table, not offering her a hint at where to begin.

"What's up?" Joanne prompted finally. "I know you wanted to talk about… us…" Arizona was relieved to notice that she seemed to be in a better mood that the previous night.

"I want to apologize… among other things…" She looked down at the wood of the table, trailing her fingers across the smooth surface. "It's long overdue, but I never should have… left the way I did. You didn't deserve that, even if things were bad between us. No one deserves that. I'm so sorry, Joanne." Arizona looked up, watching as Joanne's expression turned thoughtful.

"Thank you," Joanna replied simply. "But… Zona… Really, were things _that _bad? I knew things had been off, but I didn't they were so bad you wanted to leave…"

"They were bad, Joanne," Arizona answered quietly. "I had told you a few months before that I wanted to break up… You thought we could work things out… but they never really got any better for me… it seemed like whenever we would have a fight, you would just forget about it the next day like it never happened. We ignored everything and just _pretended_ to be happy… That wasn't working anymore."

"Was it because of that thing with Samantha? Because I-"

"No," a frown settled over Arizona's expression. "I forgave you for that… It hurt, when you cheated. But, I genuinely thought we could move past it…"

"We never really did, did we?" Joanne asked, with a sad smile.

Arizona shook her head. "I think that was it for us. After that, things just started getting bad, between us."

"But, you should have told me." A bit of the anger and hurt from the night before seemed to return. "I didn't know… Maybe it was obvious to you Zona, but I had no idea… You just took off on a plane one day…"

"You didn't know?" Arizona's blue eyes filled with surprise and a tinge of horror. "No… I mean I thought you knew… I had told you I wanted to break up and I thought you felt how bad things were between us… I thought you knew how upset I was."

"Well, I didn't," came the short reply. Arizona listened with bated breath as guilt coiled in the pit of her stomach. "I knew things were bad. But it didn't seem like anything to destroy a relationship over."

Arizona flinched, as she remembered Callie's words from the night before. They had been almost identical. It stuck her that, she had done the same thing… The situation had been different, sure, but the essence of the act was the same…

"I thought you knew," Arizona repeated, her voice barely above a whisper.

"Well… tell me now." Joanne replied.

"You really want me to-"

"Yes." Joanne cut her off. "I'd like to know."

"Okay," Arizona's fingers fidgeted in her lap as she paused. "I still loved you… I know I did… but it was all too much for me. You had cheated, and we went on pretending it didn't happen. Every fight we had, we would just put aside. We let things pile up until… until I just resented you…" She looked up, but Joanne just nodded for her to continue. "I couldn't live with you anymore… I mean, even when I tried to tell you we should break-up it felt like you pretended that conversation didn't happen… It was like because we told ourselves we were in love… we were forcing ourselves to make this thing that was broken… work…. And, for me it just didn't anymore."

"See," Joanne let out an exhausted sigh. "I didn't _know_ that. I thought we had gotten over all of those fights. I didn't know you just… kept everything bottled up inside. And, when you asked if we should break-up… I wanted to make it work… I thought we could, but I guess that didn't work out so well…"

"It's like we were in two different relationships," Arizona murmured, both amazed and sad at the same time. "I can't believe I let it get that bad… Joanne, I'm so sorry… I thought… I thought you knew," she repeated.

"It wasn't all bad, was it?" Joanne asked as her fingers tapped nervously against the table. "We didn't just waste years of our lives-"

"No." Arizona shook her head. She couldn't stand the thought of Joanne thinking everything they had, had been a waste. "We _were _in love, at least until the end…" She paused, before a small smile appeared. "Remember that day at the beach? We had driven down with all of our college friends in that tiny little van. There was that amusement park and we stayed at the beach almost the entire day. Just swimming or playing very sad games of beach volleyball…"

"Of course I remember," a touch of laughter wove through Joanne's tone. "All of us were at the beach… You were in a blue bikini… I think I probably stared at you for the entire trip… except for when Jacob puked in the car ride on the way back, then you puked _because_ he puked…"

"Ah yes," Arizona laughed before steadying herself. "But, do you see what I mean? Not all bad. In fact a lot of it was fun… good."

"We could have that again…" Joanne asked hopefully, watching the blonde's face for a reaction. "We could talk… be more open with each other…"

"I can't… Joanne… After all that, we just didn't fit… and there's-"

"Callie." Joanne finished for her, with the hint of a smirk. "There's Callie."

"Yeah," Arizona blushed. "There's Callie."

"Can I offer you some advice?" Joanne requested tentatively. Arizona nodded in response. "You love Callie. You told me last night… but even thought we messed it up and I'm still a bit angry with you for jumping on a plane... we should learn from us. You need to talk, Arizona. You need to _tell _her what going on inside that blonde, dimpled, blue-eyed head of yours."

"Thanks, Jo," Arizona nodded again, the use of her old nickname bringing a smile to Joanne's lips.

"What about me? Got any advice?"

"You need to… listen…" She smiled. "I know it's weird advice seeing as I obviously didn't talk to you enough about what mattered… but when I did, when I tried… It seemed like you would just ignore it, especially if it wasn't good news…"

"I'll work on that," Joanne managed a small smile. "Do I get a hug… even if we just did technically break up?"

"Of course," Arizona walked toward the other woman, pulling her in for a hug and kissing her quickly on the cheek. "I'm sorry… for everything, okay? For hurting you, for leaving… it was more me… And thank you for coming to find me."

"It was both of us," Joanne nudged her teasingly. "But… yeah… The leaving… that's on you, and I can't lie and tell you it didn't hurt."

"I know, and I'm sorry-"

"No more apologies," she shrugged. "Zona, I know you're sorry, you've only said about fifty times… I'm sorry too, I guess. But, we can try to forgive, right?"

"Right." Arizona looked up at her, now official, ex-girlfriend.

"Okay, well… As much as I hate to say this, you probably need to go talk to Callie."

"I do… thanks for everything, Jo... And I'm still sorry…" Arizona pulled her in for one last hug and walked toward the door, stopping only when Joanne called out one last time.

"Don't do the same thing again, Zona. It sucks for the person whose left behind. It really does." Resisting the strong urge to apologize again, Arizona simply nodded before turning and walking out the door.

* * *

"I can't believe you guys are falling asleep," Callie groaned at her three friends who were sprawled out on the bed, the sofa and the floor. "It's only four o'clock."

"Time change," Addison mumbled from where she was lying on the bed with her eyes closed.

"Yeah," Mark yawned, also failing miserably at keeping his eyes open. "Sorry Callie… but we haven't really slept since the hike…" He yawned again.

"Go see the… go see Blondie," Cristina muttered, her voice muffled by the sofa cushions.

Callie got up, shaking her head in exasperation Cristina tiredly gestured toward the door. "Oh, and turn the light off," Addison added.

"I'll see you in the morning," Callie smirked as all three of them nodded before collapsing again. She walked toward the door, stopping to turn the lights off for which she received an exhausted thumbs up from Cristina before she shut the door and headed back up to her room.

She didn't expect Arizona to be back yet, though she really had no idea where the blonde had actually gone for the entire day. Using the key she had stolen back from Cristina, she unlocked the door and dropped her bag onto the floor before noticing the blonde figure slumped on the bed.

"Calliope?" Arizona looked up, her gaze colliding with Callie briefly before she dropped her eyes. "Sorry, I didn't expect to see you back so early…"

"Oh… Well, all of my courageous friends who hiked through the jungle to rescue us have fallen victim to the time change and are all sound asleep right now…" She looked at Arizona, noticing the downturned corners of her mouth and the light tearstains across her cheeks. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah… Yeah… I'm fine," Arizona forced a smile, sitting up in bed. Callie nodded, not believing a word of it and went to sit down on her bed.

"Are you sure? Because I know you wanted to talk, and everything… but if you're upset I don't want to push you…" She looked at Arizona sympathetically but the blonde, always stubborn, just shook her head.

"I'm fine… really…" Her frown deepened as Arizona remembered what Joanne had told her. Tell her what's going on. Well, lying was a fantastic start on following that piece of advice, wasn't it? "I… I just realized something today… that wasn't what I had expected…"

"Oh?" Callie asked. She noticed the unease swirling in those blue eyes as Arizona looked down at the bedspread, her fingers twisting and knotting in the blankets. "You can tell me, if you want."

"I hadn't realized how much I had hurt her," Arizona blurted, unable to keep the world from tumbling from her lips. "She had no idea… She knew things were bad, but she... didn't know how bad they were for me… and I just _left_…"

"Is this, Joanne?" Callie already knew the answer, but Arizona nodded.

"I went to talk to her, today…"

"I take it… it didn't go well…" Callie remarked cautiously.

"No. I mean, it did… I guess… We officially broke up… and I finally told her what I should have told her two years ago… but…" She shook her head again, seemingly both terrified and amazed with what she had heard. "I had always kind of… made her the evil one in the relationship... blamed all of the resentment I felt on her and the problems she created… but it was me too… I didn't tell her _anything_. She had no idea. I'm like Erica," she looked helplessly up at Callie. "I'm like Erica… I did, what she did to you. I thought it was so different, but… it wasn't… not at all."

"Hey…" Callie got up and walked tentatively toward Arizona, stopping just before the edge of the bed and kneeling down. She forced Arizona to meet her gaze. "Look… what you did… I can't tell you it's not bad… But you _are_ different from Erica… You had that conversation in the end. You told Joanne _why. _And, from experience that's what she's been wondering these past years… And you learned from it… At least I think you did…"

"I hadn't realized what I had _done_…" She looked down at Callie, a smile ghosting across her lips for a fraction of a second. "But, I did learn…" Arizona reached out, touching Callie's shoulder gently. "I want to _know_ you and I want to tell you things. I want to know all the little things, and I want to hear about your family… Joanne and I were a mess but running away wasn't a solution… I didn't tell her enough and she didn't listen when I did but that's still not an excuse Callie… I want us to be stronger because of that. I haven't given you any reason to believe that I won't, but I'm going to find some way to prove to you that I'm not going to be another person who runs away… that's not who I am…"

"Arizona… you have given me reasons… You did when you went against your… odd…" Callie smirked, "…rules and asked me out… You did when you came back after we had that stupid fight in the jungle… And when you talked with your ex-girlfriend, actually _talked_ in a way Erica never did… you gave me another reason…" Callie smiled, hoping her words would take away some of the worry in Arizona's blue eyes. "You've given me enough reasons… I trust you… I want to know you, I want to hear everything about your family, and I want you to talk to me… but I trust you… okay?"

"You do… even after-"

"Absolutely," she took Arizona's hand. "I got lost in the wilderness with you… nothing really builds trust the way that does… but it's more than that. We're more than that and you know it." Arizona nodded, finally allowing herself to smile.

"I trust you too" her fingers traced circles on the back of Callie's hand.

"I know," the brunette smiled back.

"And, I'm not going to run… I'm not a person who runs, Calliope… I know it seems-"

"I know that too, you've proved it to me… and you keep proving it to me." Callie replied.

"And… I love you," Arizona looked anxious, her teeth biting down into her lip as she watched Callie smile.

"I know." Callie repeated, leaning upwards and pulling Arizona into a kiss.

"How did you know?" Arizona stumbled, caught between happiness and nervousness yet again.

"I know," Callie kissed her. "Because I heard you say it, _and _I love you too."

* * *

**A/N: That was VERY different that I had expected... Sorry for any confusion with the re-post.  
NOTE: Will edit in the morning for grammar/etc. too tired :D  
For the next few days I'm going to be working on From a Whisper to a Scream, but then Butterflies and Hurricanes will come back...**

**Reviews=Love **


	19. I Dreamed a Dream

**A/N: So first, I've have been getting many questions… not really… like two, but still… To answer said questions, Callie and Arizona do still have a few months of their term with the Peace Corps (not sure how many more chapters that will turn out to be though…) and this story will continue for at least a few chapters after their term ends, and Callie returns to Seattle Grace and Arizona goes… somewhere… (Not telling what happens :D)**

**Thanks for all the reviews, you guys never cease to be... awesome :D**

**Now go read. XD**

**New History**

**Chapter Nineteen: I Dreamed a Dream**

**_I'm working on my faults and cracks  
Filling in the blanks and gaps  
When I write them out they don't make sense  
I need you to pencil in the rest_**

**_-_My Backwards Walk by Frightened Rabbit**

_She didn't recognize her surroundings. In an effort to search out a landmark, Arizona opened her blue eyes wide, frantically searching for a sliver of light that would pierce through the terrifying darkness surrounding her. Suffocating her. She found none. Panic seized in her chest as fear twisted and slithered, snake-like, in the pit of her stomach. _

_It wasn't the same disorientation she had found in the jungle where every tree had looked alike and every step she had taken along the un-beaten trails lead her down a frightening and exhilarating journey. This was very different. The freedom promised by the sheer size of the jungle had been ripped away as she clawed her way through the darkness. The hum of birds had long since faded into silence, taking with it the distant rush of the stream and the sounds of Callie's footsteps beside hers and leaving her every sense blanketed in pure emptiness. _

_She didn't know why she was even walking. Her instincts screamed for her to stop but the protests were rendered obsolete as she still felt her feet moving, carrying her foreword. _

_Her fingers collided with something solid, brushing against something wooden and smooth before she kept walking. She wanted to stop. She felt more of the shapes surrounding her now, as if she was trapped in a forest of bizarrely shaped trees. _

_Arizona forced her feet to stop. Hesitantly she reached out, dragging her hands through the empty air until they collided with something solid. She clutched at the smooth surface and moved closer to it, grateful to have something to anchor herself with. _

_Her nails scraped across the face of the object as her fingers dug into the wood. _

"_Calliope?" The name tore from her lips and hung empty and meaningless in the darkness surrounding her. "Callie, are you there?" She tried again, her voice raw in her throat. _

_She received no answer._

"_Anyone?" She cried out desperately as her arms tightened around the wooden object. _

_No answer, no voice, nobody, approached her from within the darkness. Fear continued it's torturous journey through her body, pulling her deeper into the darkness and stealing the air from her lungs in quick gasps. _

_Under her fingers, Arizona felt a wide crack that seemed to stretch the entire length of the wood. She dug her fingers in, and pulled, stumbling backwards as the object she had been clutching fell open before her._

_A coffin. She had been holding onto a tiny coffin. _

_Abruptly, the darkness vanished as the door swung open beneath her fingers. She caught a glimpse of a familiar face before everything disappeared in flashes of color. Brightness engulfed the world she had found herself in, illuminating the rows and rows of coffins that stretched into infinity before her. She saw hundreds of faces._

_Eyes of every shade looked innocently up at her from small, childish faces. A hundred names tugged at her lips, forcing themselves into her mind and into her heart as a face accompanied each name. Children she had managed to save. Children she had fought for, and won. But then, there were those she had fought for and lost._

_She tried to cover her eyes against the colors burning themselves into her retinas. Her world was an over-exposed photo, with each color brighter and more terrible than it ever should be. She saw them glaring. Their small faces twisted to accommodate more hate then their short lives were supposed to hold. Some were crying. Some were just looking at her. No accusation in their eyes, no hatred. All she saw was what each child had lost._

"_I couldn't…" She tried to reason with the darkness, tried to talk to the small bodies. "I tried… I'm sorry…" Her hands rose to cover her face against the waves of color and the faces looking up at her._

"_I'm sorry," She tried again; from within the darkness her own hands had created. She screamed her apology, but it fell of deaf ears as the darkness closed around her again. _

Arms closed protectively around her body, pulling her close to something. She fought against them for a second, as her mind still remained trapped in that terrible dream but the fight dissolved as she forced her eyes open.

It was dark, but not ominously so as it had been in her dream. There was someone talking and a pair of lips pressed kisses against the top of her head. "Arizona," the voice murmured. "It's just a dream. Okay? Just a dream. I'm here, but you really need to wake up." A hand traced comforting patterns across her back as another wrapped gently around her shoulders.

Calliope.

Arizona felt the last thread of consciousness connecting her to that dream fray and snap as the familiar voice continued to whisper softly. She abandoned herself to the feeling of the arms surrounding her and the words whispered into the empty air as the tears leaked from the corners of her eyes. Curling her body against Callie's, Arizona buried her head in the fabric of Callie's t-shirt and lost the battle to keep the tears hidden behind her eyes.

"Just a dream," Callie murmured. "It was just a dream." She dropped a kiss against the mess of blonde curls pressed against her shoulder and wrapped her arms around Arizona's trembling body.

When Callie had woken up, Arizona had been talking, muttering in her sleep. For a second, Callie had thought it was funny and adorable until Arizona had rolled over to face her and her face was twisted in pain. Callie had pulled Arizona close, but the blonde had continued to toss and turn among the blankets as words escaped her lips. She had kept repeating 'I'm sorry,' over and over again.

As soon as Arizona had finally woken up, she had almost immediately burst into tears. Her tears dripped onto Callie's t-shirt as Callie just lay there, slightly scared and completely unsure of what to say.

"Arizona," she whispered against the blonde's hair. "It was just a dream… we're okay here… you're safe."

"I know." The reply was lost among the tears and the fabric of her t-shirt but she had heard it. However, the words didn't seem to do much to stem the rivers of tears that dripped down Arizona's cheeks. So, Callie settled for simply waiting.

About fifteen minutes later, the tears had slowed almost to a stop. Arizona's body was still curled snugly against Callie's, but the brunette could tell by her ragged and uneven breathing that Arizona was still awake. Callie waited for Arizona to speak first, if she was going to. After a while, Callie doubted that she was going to as Arizona's breathing had slowly calmed and evened out.

Callie shifted; peering down at Arizona's now-peaceful face nestled against her shoulder. The blonde's fingers were still knotted in the fabric of her t-shirt but it seemed that Arizona's entire body had relaxed back into sleep. Relieved, Callie lay back against the pillow and pulled the blanket back up to cover the pair of them. As she did so, Arizona squirmed closer, tangling her legs with Callie's and snaking her arms around Callie's waist. The brunette felt slightly like a giant teddy bear, but in the best way possible as Arizona's tired breathing ghosted across her skin.

Ten minutes later, Callie was still unable to fall asleep. She listened to the sound of Arizona's breathing, trying to match it with her own and fall into the same slumber, but it didn't work. She settled for watching Arizona sleep, even though it was a little stalker-ish.

She reached out a hand, slowly tracing Arizona's jaw line with a brush of her fingers before snuggling down so her face was almost level with the blonde's. In her sleep, Arizona's lips twitched, hinting at a smile before they relaxed again. Callie found herself surprisingly un-bored for someone who was watching someone else sleep. Maybe this was what love did to you, Callie reasoned, make you cheesy enough to watch someone sleep. But, she had been in love with George… and she had never watched him sleep. Never wanted to.

"Are you watching me sleep?" The corner of Arizona's lips twitched as her eyelids fluttered open. Callie blushed, so much for being asleep.

"Maybe," Callie leaned down, kissing Arizona quickly before leaning away again. "Are you okay?"

"Wha- oh…" Arizona frowned. "Yeah, totally…"

"I don't believe you," Callie replied quietly, with no hint of anger or annoyance. She offered Arizona a small smile. "I'm not going to push you to talk about it, because believe me, I understand when sometimes it's easier to push things to the back of your mind instead of talking… but… you're not okay... and I don't want you to think you can't tell me."

"Oh…" That was all Arizona said as silence settled between them again. She was waiting for Callie to ask her questions, to expect an explanation. To her surprise, no inquiry came. She was tempted to just roll over and fall back asleep. She knew Callie would let her, but Joanne's words abruptly rang through her head.

_You need to talk, Arizona. You need to __tell __her what going on inside that blonde, dimpled, blue-eyed head of yours._

So Arizona, who had run away from a past relationship with a plane ticket and a Peace Corps application, decided to talk. And, Callie Torres, who had cheated, been cheated on and then walked away from, was going to listen… they made quite a pair.

"Tiny coffins… That's where they put the patients. My patients." She felt Callie's body tense against hers as confusion filled those brown eyes but she kept talking, determined to defeat at least one of her demons. "That's what I dream about when I have nightmares… how many of those tiny coffins_ I_ have filled."

"Surgery?" Callie asked quietly.

"Yeah." Arizona bit her lip to still the trembling in her voice. "It wasn't until the fifth year of my residency that I actually saw one… For some reason it never occurred to me that the coffins would be smaller. It was the first and last patient funeral I went to… I had operated on Susan more than ten times over two years… When she died, I thought I should go… I mean I had known her… I had known her in the worst way possible, under anesthesia with a scalpel… but still, it made sense for me to go to her funeral… I just didn't realize…" She shrugged, making an attempt at being nonchalant that she knew Callie could easily see through. "I never went to another funeral for one of my patients… but it didn't matter after that…" Her voice trailed off and she felt Callie's arms wind around her body as a shuddering sigh passed her lips.

"I don't get them often..." Arizona continued, "but when I do…" She shook her head. "I've never been particularly good at detaching myself from my patients. I play games with them, I call them by their names instead of just calling them 'the patient,' I've helped them with their homework… I guess this is sort of a punishment for that…"

"No," Callie pulled away so she could look at the blonde. "It's not a punishment for caring, Arizona. All surgeons wish they could care the way you do. We detach ourselves because we _have_ to-"

"To avoid things like this." Arizona finished for her quietly. Callie bit back an interruption and let Arizona talk. That had not been what she was going to say. "I hate that I'm weak and that I let them haunt me… But they put their lives in my hands… they trust me to fix them so they can make it to their next birthday party, go to high school, have their first kiss, have kids of their own… And sometimes it feels like all I ever do is fill their coffins…"

"You'd be weak if you let these nightmares force you to stop caring." Callie countered. "I've never seen you in an OR, but I've seen the way you are with the children that visit the clinic. You're not weak. You care like crazy, and even when you have nightmares, you _keep _caring. That makes you strong."

"Has anything like this… has it ever happened to you?"

Callie paused, looking thoughtful. "I've had nightmares before… A… friend of mine died, and his mother asked me to decide about… what to do with his organs. He would have given everything, and somewhere I knew that but I couldn't make that decision. I had nightmares for weeks after that… but, never about surgery… What you and I do is different, Arizona. Most of my patients are adults and that doesn't make it any more 'right' when they die under my scalpel. But, most of them have had a chance to live. I have assisted on a few PEDs cases, and I couldn't imagine how hard it would be to have to face those children everyday and to know that somehow you won't be able to save them all."

"I wouldn't trade it though," a small smile transformed Arizona's expression. "We can only do so much, but when I do save one of my patients... The good outweighs the bad… As long as I can remember that… It's easier."

"I think you'd have to be incredibly optimistic to work in PEDs, that and incessantly cheerful…"

"It helps, I play probably over a hundred games of hide and seek daily." Callie was glad to see that the nightmares obviously didn't diminish Arizona's love for her job or the joy she seemed to find from working with children. It was something that amazed her, the way Arizona always seemed to be able to keep moving foreword. And, it was something she was sure she would never understand. "What about Ortho?"

Callie laughed, "Strength. You have to be able to break bones."

"You are strong," Arizona replied with unwavering confidence weaving trough her tone. "Not just physically… But, as a person, you're strong." Other adjective she could have chosen were; hot, miraculous, breathtaking, stunning, amazing, awesome and badass, among others… but she kept those to herself.

"So are you. The nightmares don't change that." Callie answered with a re-assuring grin.

"Thank you," Arizona murmured quietly as she snuggled back down amongst the blankets and nestled into Callie's embrace. "And I'm sorry… for waking you up... but I think I needed that, and you always seem to know what to say…"

Callie laughed at that before pressing a kiss against Arizona's forehead. "Don't apologize for that. Ever."

Arizona nodded as a contented smile stole across her lips and she let her eyes close.

"Calliope?" Arizona's voice sliced through the darkness a few minutes later.

"Mhhmm?"

"I love you, and I'm sorry about your friend."

"I am too... But, I love you, goodnight Arizona."

* * *

"You sure you won't come back with us?" Mark asked as he pulled his best friend into a hug. "Nothing I say will convince you? Seattle grace could really use its Ortho badass back a few months early."

Callie laughed, just shaking her head and whacking him lightly on the arm. "I know you'll miss me. But, it's only a few more months, and I'll call more often, okay?"

"If you go two weeks without calling I'll fly down here under the assumption you've gotten yourself lost in the jungle again," he warned, only half joking. "But please remember the time difference when you call."

"I'll try," Callie remembered their early phone conversation when she had woken him up at almost 3 am. "No more early morning phone calls," she promised.

Mark smirked, before pulling Arizona into a quick hug. "See ya Blondie, and don't hurt her, okay?" He whispered the last part, making sure Callie couldn't hear as he shot Arizona a warning glance.

"I won't," Arizona answered, just as quietly before adding her good bye in a slightly louder tone.

"Later, Callie," Cristina said from a few feet away. The brunette just rolled her eyes and walked foreword, giving her old roommate a brief hug.

"I'll miss you too, Cristina," she remarked sarcastically as she pulled away. Cristina just mumbled something about violating her personal space bubble in response.

"Try… try not to like... die out here, okay? Getting lost once was enough and I'm not dragging myself away from the hundreds of wonderful cardio cases to come save your sorry ass a second time."

"Will do. See you in a few months Cristina," Callie replied, grinning.

"Call sometime, you know… if you feel like it…" Cristina added quickly, surprising both herself and Callie before waving half-heartedly at Arizona and walking over to join Mark.

"Bye Callie," Addison walked foreword, hugging Callie tightly. "I'm glad we came down here… even if it was to find you in the jungle… I'll miss you for the next couple of months."

"I'll try to call you." Out of all of her friends, Addison was the one Callie was probably the most worried about. Mark would be getting married soon and settling down, it that was possible. Though, Callie had made him swear to save the wedding date for after she returned to Seattle. Cristina would be… being Cristina… But, after talking with Addison she realized how much she hadn't known about the redhead's life. "Just be… safe. That sounds stupid, but you know what I mean." Addison nodded. "And when I get back, I'll visit you right away and you have to fill me in on everything… with tequila of course."

"Sounds like a plan," Addison hugged Callie again before walking over to stand in front of Arizona.

"Don't take this the wrong way, because you actually seem very nice… but if you mess up my best friend, I'll beat you up using these shoes, okay?" She pointed down at her feet where her customary heels were back in place. In that moment, they looked oddly sharp to Arizona.

"Understood," Arizona smiled. Both women ignored the horrified expression on Callie's face.

"Excellent," Addison replied, giving Arizona a quick hug and walking over to join Mark and Cristina.

Callie watched as her three friends climbed the rickety staircase up to the entrance of the plane. She waved back as Addison and Mark turned to wave at her, Cristina waved for a brief moment before rolling her eyes and disappearing onto the plane.

Beneath the sadness she felt at the prospect of not seeing her best friends for the next few months, Callie pitied Mark. He had a ten-hour plane ride with those two on a _very_ small plane.

* * *

**A/N: Poor Mark, once again.**

**Edits in the morning... it's tooo laaatteeee, and i'm tired. Typing with a headache is annoyingly hard.**

**I think these two just need a huge chapter of fluff after all the doom and gloom lately... so that should be coming up.. or maybe not XD... we'll see, but the next chapter definitely won't be this dark...**

**Like it? Hate it? Click the review button... pretty please?**


	20. Playground Arizona

**A/N: It's mostly fluff... but there's actually some plot towards the end... ahhh!**

**Thanks for all the reviews guys, you guys are the awesomest awesome that ever did awesome.**

**AHH! Chapter 20! This turned out a lot longer than I had expected XD Thanks for sticking around for twenty chapters, and hope you guys stick around for some more. **

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* * *

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**New History**

**Chapter Twenty: Playground Arizona**

_The way it feels to be  
Completely intertwined  
It's not that I didn't care  
It's that I didn't know  
It's not what I didn't feel,  
It's what I didn't show  
So let me be  
And I'll set you free_

_-_**Misery by Maroon 5**

Callie was having a very difficult time changing her clothes. It wasn't really that difficult. She was simply switching her college t-shirt for a scrub top in the bathroom and makeshift locker room of the clinic, but a certain blonde was making this task very difficult.

"Arizona," she protested feebly as the blonde's hands tugged at the fabric of the scrub top she had just managed to put on. "Arizona… we're supposed to be working in the clinic-" Arizona just shook her head, placing her hands on Callie's hips and backing her up until her back was pressed against the cold tile of the wall. Callie shivered, whether it was from Arizona or the feeling of the icy tiles pressing into her back, she wasn't sure, but she was betting on the first one. Arizona silenced any further protests by claiming Callie's lips in a fierce kiss as her hands roamed the length of Callie's body.

A gasp parted the brunette's lips as Arizona maneuvered her leg in between Callie's, slowly grinding into her body as she forced her up against the wall. All thoughts of protest quickly fled her mind as Arizona transferred her attention to Callie's neck. She trailed a line of butterfly kisses down to Callie's collarbone, until she abruptly pulled away with a wicked glint in her eye.

Watching Callie the entire time, Arizona slowly took a few steps back and with considerable will power on her part, tugged the edge of Callie's rumpled scrub back down. Callie shivered as her fingers brushed the skin on her stomach but her eyes widened as Arizona backed away.

"What are you doing?" Callie demanded hoarsely as her body screamed at Arizona's absence.

"You said we had to work," Arizona shrugged innocently. "I think we're going to be pretty late if we keep this up."

"Screw being late," Callie replied quickly, not above begging Arizona to finish what she had started. "They can manage without us for a bit."

"I don't know," Arizona's gaze strayed teasingly toward the locked door of the bathroom. "It's not very responsibl-"

Unable to put up with Arizona's teasing any longer, Callie closed the distance between them. She smirked slightly, her lips barely an inch from Arizona's face as the blonde's eyes darkened in anticipation. Looking up at the brunette with a dark blue combination of lust and love, Arizona curled her hand around the back of Callie's neck and crashed their lips together again.

"Still want me to stop?" Callie managed to gasp out in between kisses.

"Don't you dare," Arizona ordered as she forced Callie up against the wall of the bathroom. Her girlfriend definitely seemed to have a thing for walls. Not that Callie minded. Not at all.

* * *

A while later, Callie stumbled out of the bathroom as she frantically tried to smooth the wrinkled fabric of her scrub top and fix what she was sure was a horrible case of 'sex-hair.' She was still blushing a violent red color as she mumbled a greeting to Isaac and hurried behind the tiny clinic desk. She thought she and Arizona had been stealthy enough until Kopano turned the corner and noticed that she had finally arrived for work.

"Morning Dr. Torres," Kopano greeted her, holding a packet of gauze in his hand as he walked toward the desk. "You certainly took a long time to change today." He commented, with a raised eyebrow.

"Uhh… yeah," Callie stuttered, blushing even more. "I had a hard time… getting my scrubs on… I'm a very clumsy person and I kept uh… falling over... the floors are slippery..."

"Is Dr. Robbins still in there?" He asked, and Callie almost choked before realized that they did in fact share the changing room so it wouldn't be exactly incriminating for her to be in there as well.

"Uh yeah… she's uh… clumsy too."

"I see. I hope she isn't finding the floors too slippery" he just smiled and walked away toward the clinic doors, getting ready to open. Callie grimaced and felt her face flush with an even deeper blush. Busted.

A few seconds later, Arizona emerged from the bathroom looking spotless and unruffled, much to Callie's annoyance. She practically bounced toward Callie, smiling a greeting at Isaac and Kopano before leaning over the desk and looking at Callie.

"Hello Dr. Torres," She said formally, mirth coloring the blue of her eyes.

"Dr. Robbins," Callie replied with a nod of her head. "Can I talk to you… uh… outside?"

"Of course, Dr. Torres," Arizona answered as a smirk ghosted across her lips. Callie wrinkled her nose at the sound of her formal name coming from Arizona… The blonde seemed to enjoy teasing her by using 'Dr. Torres' as much as possible even when it would be appropriate to use her first name.

"Ha ha." Callie grumbled, leading Arizona out the back door to the dirt plot behind the clinic. After making sure the door was safely closed behind them she turned toward Arizona, her eyes wide with fear. "Kopano knows. I'm sure he does," she whispered urgently.

"Uh… so?" Arizona looked confused at Callie's obvious discomfort. "Are you still freaked out coming out of the closet or something…? I hate to break it to you Calliope, but you're very… _very_ gay. I mean just use this morning as an example-"

"Funny. You're funny. I thought we were supposed to keep this a secret!"

"Did he seem offended?" Arizona asked cautiously, still not as freaked out as Callie thought she should be.

"No," Callie sighed.

"Angry?"

"No."

"Totally normal and acting like everything was fine?"

"Maybe," Callie muttered, hating the triumphant smirk that had transformed Arizona's expression.

"You're right. This is a disaster," Arizona replied teasingly. She looked almost adoringly at the brunette who still seemed extremely nervous.

"What if the patients find out? I'm sure some of them would have a problem with it. Then it would cause problems with the clinic Oh my gosh and that would cause problems with John, which would-"

A pair of lips gently brushed against hers, swallowing her protests and rendering her mind blissfully empty of nervous thoughts. Arizona had a frightening ability to do that to her, to completely destroy any rational train of thought.

"Relax. Okay?" Arizona asked pulling back slightly but still keeping one of her arms wrapped around Callie's waist. "You sound like my patients, playing the 'what if' game. Everything's going to be fine."

"But what if…" Callie immediately stopped as Arizona raised an eyebrow. "Fine. But did you know before or something? Because, you don't seem exactly surprised."

Arizona looked guilty. "I was pretty sure that he knew… yeah."

"Why didn't you tell me?" Callie asked, slightly offended. Arizona bit her lip and looked at Callie with an apologetic expression.

"I just didn't want to freak you out," she gestured in Callie's direction. "You know, the way you are now… I wasn't sure if you were comfortable with people knowing about us…"

"I am freaked out," Callie admitted. "But only because where we are, it could cause problems for the clinic… and we're here to work first and foremost… But, I'm not freaked out about people knowing that I'm in love with you."

"Really?" Arizona turned toward Callie, looking extremely surprised and cautiously happy.

"We newborns aren't all bad, Arizona," Callie smirked at the blush that flooded Arizona's cheeks.

"About that. Again, sorry." She shrugged her shoulders apologetically. "It totally ranks in the top five stupidest, most idiotic things I've ever said... Probably, actually at number one… and that's a tough list."

"Well, that makes me feel better." Callie grinned down at Arizona, letting her know that all was forgiven. Arizona matched her grin with a dimpled smile and leaned up to kiss Callie quickly on the lips before turning toward the door of the clinic.

"We probably should go back… you coming?" Arizona held the door open, waiting for Callie.

"Give me a couple of minutes," Callie replied. "I'll be back in a sec."

"You okay?" Arizona asked, looking immediately worried. Her blue eyes traced Callie's features, searching for some sign of sadness, or anger. To her relief and confusion, she found none.

"Yeah, I'll be right in." Callie shot her a reassuring smile before leaning her head back against the rough wall.

Arizona nodded, stalling for a second and watching her worriedly before disappearing inside.

Callie watched the door swing shut before her lips twisted down into a frown and she let her mind drift back a few years.

"_Easy, there's right and there's wrong. And, this was wrong, and illegal. There is no gray area here, you can't kind of think this is okay. You can't kind of side with Izzie Stevens. And, you can't kind of be a lesbian."_

"_Yes I can."_

"_I can't believe I didn't know this…"_

Why wasn't she scared? Why wasn't she running for the hills, as far away from this blonde, blue-eyed PEDs surgeon as she could possibly get? Why was it so easy to admit that she was in love? Those questions filled her mind as she slumped against the wall in the dusty back lot of the clinic.

Why couldn't it have been this easy before? Callie wasn't regretting anything. She was wholly glad that she had fallen for Arizona and let her past with Erica fade away as much as it probably ever would. But that didn't stop her from wondering, what was different this time?

Obviously Arizona. She was Erica's polar opposite in every respect. Not the type of person she would ever expect to fall for in a million years, yet that was the person she had fallen, and was still falling for. What had changed inside of her? Was she different?

She didn't feel particularly different. Happier maybe. She was definitely happier than she had been before. More trusting? She wasn't sure. Arizona had fought her way in, no matter how hard Callie had tried to resist. She had practically forced Callie to put her trust in her and had shocked Callie with how careful she was about breaking it.

Maybe Arizona had _changed _her.

* * *

**(That evening)**

"Callie, you in there?" Sam's voice sounded through the wood of the dorm's door as a knock followed the sound of his voice.

"Yeah, one sec." Callie put down the book she had been reading and walked quickly toward the door. She pulled it open; glad to see one of the few other volunteers she considered to be her friends.

"Hey Callie," He greeted her, smiling.

"Hey Sam, what's up?"

"John wants to see you and Arizona… As soon as possible, he said," Sam's shoulders hunched up into a shrug. "I have no idea what it's about."

"Well, Arizona's in the shower right now… Do you think he'll mind if we go see him in like… half an hour?" Callie asked, slightly worried about why John would need to see them so urgently.

"I think that's okay… he wasn't very specific, but he's in room 357 when you go see him…"

"Okay… well," Callie smiled. "Thanks for the message."

"No problem… So how are things going down at the clinic?"

"Fine… We didn't have many patients today, but on the whole, it's going great. Oh, I realized I never did thank you for coming out to find Arizona and I when we were lost... Hanging out with Addison, Mark and Cristina can't have been fun."

"It wasn't too bad," he laughed. "They did seem to argue quite a bit… But really, it's not a big deal. We were all just glad you guys were back safe. Jack was freaking out."

"Well, still… Thanks, it means a lot."

"Your welcome," he replied with a grin. "Well, I'd better be going… Tell Arizona I say hi, okay?"

"Will do. Thanks Sam." Callie waved as he walked off down the hall before turning back to the dorm and frowning thoughtfully. Weird. They had barely seen John over the past week… maybe he just wanted to check in.

"Calliope?" Arizona walked out of the bathroom, clad only in a towel and looking curiously toward the door. "Was someone there?"

"Yeah. Sam came by to let us know that John wanted to see us as soon as possible… He didn't say why." She shrugged, too preoccupied with absorbing the sight of Arizona wearing only a towel.

"That's odd," Arizona muttered, running a brush slowly through her dripping hair. "I wonder what he wants."

* * *

"So… uhm… doctors," John greeted them, steeping aside to usher them into his own dorm. He seemed nervous and almost apologetic as he sat down at a small table that was strewn with papers and gestured to two mis-matched chairs that were positioned around the table. His room was practically identical to Callie and Arizona's except he had only one bed and a table where the second bed would have been.

"What's up?" Arizona asked, trying to appear her usual cheery self but Callie could hear the nervous under-current in her tone. "Are we in trouble?" She joked, but John just awkwardly shuffled around some papers and ignored the question.

"Well… lets just say there have been some rumors… about the pair of you…" He looked almost pained as he talked, and extremely embarrassed. Callie immediately tensed in her chair, it was pretty obvious what such rumors would be about. Under the table, she felt Arizona's hand on her leg as the blonde shot her a worried glance out of the corner of her eye.

"What kind of rumors?" Arizona asked, quite unnecessarily.

"Are you two… have you two…" He sighed. "Are you two sleeping together?"

"What does that have anything to do with… anything?" Arizona asked.

"I'll take that as a yes," John answered sadly. "Look. I have no problem with-" He winced.

"The gay thing?" Callie supplied dryly. Out of the corner of her eye, Callie saw Arizona smirk.

"Yes… that..." He stumbled, "But Ellen and some of the other volunteers mentioned it and… whether gay… or not gay… it's against policy."

"You have a policy about this?" Arizona asked doubtfully.

"We don't exactly uh… encourage _personal relations_ between the volunteers… and not that I am aware that… they are… happening… It would be against policy for me to let the two of you remain in the same room…" Callie almost felt bad for him… He obviously didn't want to have to be doing this… but… almost.

"You're making us sleep in separate rooms?" The blonde looked at him with a mixture of disbelief and disgust. "Are you serious? It's not freaking eighth grade camp where you have to divide the girls and the boys dorms up!"

"You'll be switching roommates for the time being… yes," John answered, doing his best to appear stern.

"Is this because we're gay? Because that's discrimination and-"

"No." He cut her off. "It's definitely not because of that. Like I said, I have no problem with it and I doubt any of the other volunteers do either…"

"Right," Callie muttered.

"I wish I hadn't heard about this. But, once I've heard… I have to act… You understand, it could affect the working relationship we're trying to build here…"

"That's shit," Arizona replied icily, her normally warm, cheerful blue eyes were cold. Callie looked at the blonde in shock; Arizona was never one to curse and even John seemed taken aback.

"Excuse me-"

"She preformed surgery in the middle of nowhere, saved a man's life with her bare hands and a pile of freaking sticks. In the clinic we've lost patients, yes, but we've saved countless patients-"

"Dr. Robbins, I-"

"We have a perfect _working relationship_, with the people at the clinic." Arizona continued, ignoring him. "The patients trust us for the most part and we would never flaunt our relationship where we work… We have built all of this while we were having _personal relations_, as you put it."

"Like I said, if I hadn't heard about it, this wouldn't be an issue… It's policy," he repeated, at a loss for what else to say. "Dr. Torres you will be rooming with Jenny in 236 and Dr. Robbins you will be with Ellen in 457."

"Please…" Callie began angrily. "Can't you just… pretend you haven't heard about it?"

"I'm afraid not. This isn't exactly open for discussion, please pack up and move to your new rooms by the end of the day."

"But-"

"Dr. Torres, I'm sorry, but that's all." He warned, glancing toward the door.

Callie followed Arizona out of the dorm and up the stairs in complete silence. She kept sneaking glances in Arizona's direction to try to gauge the blonde's reaction but Arizona's face, for one, was expressionless.

The silence continued into their dorm where Callie watched as Arizona just sat down on her bed, looking up at Callie wordlessly.

"What are we going to do?" She asked softly. Callie walked quickly to her side, sitting down on the bed next to her and pulling Arizona into her body.

"We're going to be okay," Callie promised, even though she had no idea how that was going to work. "We won't let this affect us…"

"Calliope," Arizona sighed, looking up at Callie with a mixture of amusement and frustration. "You know that's not going to work."

"I'm not ending this," Callie replied strongly. "We'll see each other at the clinic every single day, and we can spend as much time as we want together until it we have to go to sleep."

"It can't work like that," Arizona replied sadly.

"Yes it can, Arizona… I'm not letting some idiotic rule break something so amazing, okay? We're Team Awesome…" Callie rolled her eyes.

"Finally," Arizona sighed turned towards Callie and snuggling closer into her body. "You would never admit it before… and now you finally decide to just accept that we _are _Team Awesome…"

"Yeah, and since we're so…" she winced, "awesome. We can get through this. Maybe we can switch rooms around without John knowing…"

"I doubt it… I'm rooming with the tattletale, Ellen." Arizona's lips twisted down into an uncharacteristic, annoyed frown. "She'd probably freak if you even came to say 'hi' in our dorm. I really try not to hate people… but geez… Most of my old patients, who were mostly younger than ten years old, had more sense and loyalty than she did. They hated tattletales."

"I don't know much about Jenny… I can't believe he actually put you with Ellen though… that just seems a little messed up," Callie tightened her arms around Arizona's form sympathetically.

"Yeah…" Came the blonde's quiet reply. "But, I'm pretty sure Jenny is nice."

"I hope so… though I wish I would have gotten Ellen instead of you." Callie placed a light kiss on Arizona's forehead… "I hate to say this… but we'd better get packing."

"I'll miss you," Arizona murmured, leaning up to kiss Callie lightly on the lips. "Falling asleep next to you, waking up with you every morning..."

"Me too" Callie replied quietly. "We'll figure this out, Arizona... We have to.. and we're going to."

* * *

Arizona dropped her bag by the door, realizing with distaste that she didn't have a key yet and she would have to have Ellen let her in. She knocked, as loudly and as hard as she possibly could. Callie was down a few floors, moving her stuff into her new room but they had promised to meet up in half an hour. They had been split up for approximately fifteen minutes and it already sucked.

The door opened slowly, revealing Arizona's new roommate. She looked tired, as if Arizona had just woken her up from a nap. Good, she deserved it.

"Hey, Dr. Robbins" She greeted Arizona warily.

"Hello," Arizona muttered, trying to muster up a smile and giving up halfway. This woman didn't deserve her smiles. "I'm just here to drop my stuff off."

"Okay," Ellen shut the door behind her, watching as Arizona set her bag on the bed by the far side that was obviously unoccupied. She slowly unpacked her things, stuffing her clothes haphazardly into the small chest of drawers and tried to ignore Ellen's stare.

When she couldn't any longer she turned, glaring. "Sorry, did you want something?" Playground Arizona… not the nicest person.

"No... uh…" Ellen frowned. "I don't know what you've heard about-"

"I've heard enough." Arizona replied shortly, turning back to her bags.

"I didn't mean for this to happen," Ellen offered coldly. "It's not like it's big deal or whatever… You guys were just sleeping together, friends with benefits…"

"We were sleeping together," Arizona admitted, turning her icy gaze toward Ellen again. "But it was so much more than that, that I don't even think you know what you almost destroyed with your constant need to gossip about other people's private lives."

"Don't-"

"Maybe you've never had that, so maybe you don't get it. But don't try to justify what you've done… I think we should both just accept right now, that were not going to be friends." She smiled sweetly. "I really, _really_ don't like you. And I'm pretty sure you don't like me either… So, back the hell off." She nodded in Ellen's direction, smirking at the shock she found on the other woman's expression and stormed out of the dorm to find Callie.

_Oh yeah. Playground Arizona-1. Roommate the tattletale- 0_

_

* * *

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**A/N: And now the drama is baaack... The happiness was nice while it lasted. :D This was another one of those pillow chapters *takes out pillow and hides behind it* Don't hate me. :)**

**I have no idea if the Peace Corps actually has a policy like that, I doubt it... but I tried to look it up and I couldn't really find much... XD**

**Edits in the morning.**

**Reviews are much appreciated and make me update faster =D**


	21. Roommates

**New History**  
**Chapter Twenty One: Roommates **

_**Well, now it's etched in stone**_  
_**That I can't survive alone**_  
_**You have the missing piece**_  
_**That I need so desperately**_  
_**Yes, I slip away to a day that'll never come  
**_**-Only Fooling myself by Kate Voegele. **

In the end it was only about half an hour before they saw each other again. Arizona came stomping angrily down the stairs, grumbling something unintelligible under her breath about her roommate and almost broke down the door of Callie's new dorm with her furious knocking. Callie had been in the middle of un-packing her suitcase into the chest of drawers when Arizona had arrived but she had jumped at the sound, eagerly yanking the door open.

Arizona stormed in with an uncharacteristic frown on her lips and an angry spark dancing her in blue eyes. Callie could barely keep the smirk off of her face at the sight of a pouting, annoyed Arizona but she thought avoiding that kind of confrontation with the aggravated PEDs surgeon might be the best course of action. Out of the very few times Arizona had gotten mad at her or at anything during the past months Callie knew that as long as Arizona was displaying some emotion, she was in the clear. It was when she was being overly quiet or excessively cheerful beyond even her normal levels that was when she was in trouble.

"Everything okay?" Callie coaxed gently, wrapping a tentative arm snugly around Arizona's shoulders. The blonde sighed and let her eyes flutter shut for a moment.

"Yeah," Arizona bit her lip, fully aware of how unconvincing she was being.

"_Sure,_" Callie's lips curved into a grin over the top of Arizona's head as she pulled her girlfriend down to sit on the edge of the bed. "You're a terrible liar," Callie murmured into the blonde's ear as she snaked her arms around Arizona's waist. "Will you tell me what's wrong?"

"It's Ellen," another sigh followed her words "Stupid roommate drama," she leaned back, curling her body to mold against Callie's. "Basically she's a big you-know-what."

"You know, you're older than fifteen… I think it's okay if you say the actually cuss word," Callie commented teasingly, wincing as her remarked earned her a pinch on the arm. "But, what did this… big-you-know-what do?"

"Nothing really… She just acted like I shouldn't be angry… like what we have isn't a big deal. She mentioned something about friends with benefits but then I told her to back the hell off and came down to find you…" Callie's eyes widened and she smirked down at Arizona. She was having a hard time imagining Arizona telling anyone to back the hell off…

"I'm sorry," Arizona's lips twitched up into a brief smile as she felt Callie place a light kiss on the top of her head. "Really, I wish I could switch with you…"

"How's your roommate, have you met her yet?" Arizona asked, hoping for some distraction.

"Nope," Callie shrugged, looking around the empty dorm. "She's supposed to be back soon though…"

"Should I go?" Arizona's teeth dug into her bottom lip. "I mean when your new roommate comes, is hanging out together like this… against the rules?"

"I won't tell," a voice sounded from the doorway and Arizona jumped, turning quickly to see a tall, leggy brunette leaning casually against the doorframe. Whoever it was, Arizona was guessing Callie's roommate at this point, smirked at the pair of them with a glint of something dancing in her eyes that the blonde couldn't quite identify. "Seriously. I don't have a problem with it." The woman shrugged, ignoring their surprised silence and walking quickly toward her bed. She tossed her backpack down by the door, peeled off her jacket and flopped down onto the bed.

"Uhh… thanks?" Callie shook her head briefly, as if clearing her mind. "I'm Callie Torres… your uh… new roommate."

"Nice to meet you," The brunette leaned up using her elbows and Arizona caught her eyes tracing over Callie's body in a way that made her blood boil in her veins. "I'm Jenny Fisher…" She looked pointedly at Arizona and raised an eyebrow, as if asking for an introduction without really wanting one.

"Arizona Robbins, nice to meet you…" Arizona did her best to plaster on a smile, but something about this… _Jenny _person set off alarm bells in her head. She hadn't really noticed this brunette before but anyone with eyes would notice the way she was ogling her girlfriend.

"Nice to meet you too," Jenny replied dryly, obviously not sparing any sincerity on Arizona. Determined to remain adult and mature Arizona just smiled in the direction of the brunette and moved slightly closer to Callie. "Are you the surgeon, the orthopedics specialist that re-set Tim's leg?"

Arizona could see Callie's cheeks color faintly with a blush and was surprised at the rush of pride she felt for the other woman at the memory. She remembered immediately losing any hope of saving Tim when she had climbed over the rock pile to bring Callie the bandages and seen the huge amount of blood seeping into the dry soil. But Callie had been amazing, quick and precise, everything most surgeons would kill to be. Her girlfriend was _badass._

"Yeah, that's me. Arizona's a surgeon too, PEDs." Callie's eyes flicked toward Arizona's face, concern swirling in her brown eyes.

"Really," Jenny looked at Arizona in assumed innocence. "I had no idea…"

"Well we can't all perform live-saving surgeries in the middle of nowhere," Callie must have heard the tense undercurrent to Arizona's voice because she reached, out and casually intertwined their fingers as the blonde talked. "But yep, I'm a pediatric surgeon… What do you do?"

"I'm a nurse at a hospital in New York."

"That's awesome," Arizona jammed her hands into her pockets and rocked back and forth gently in her heels. She refused to let the green eyed monster that was roaring in her stomach win. She was going to be polite. Mature. Adult. And, seemingly oblivious to the fact that this woman was practically drooling over her girlfriend.

"I was actually going to go head down to try to find some dinner," Jenny offered, breaking the awkward silence that had stretched between the three of them. "Want to join me?" Arizona strongly resisted the urge to roll her eyes when Jenny directed her question solely in Callie's direction. Seriously?

"We'd love to," Arizona chirped with a beaming smile. "I'm starving."

Jenny looked decided less enthusiastic about the idea but nodded and retrieved her jacket and backpack from the floor and led the way out of the dorm without another word. Arizona was ready to walk after her, forced cheerfulness exuding from every pore when Callie stopped her.

"Don't worry," she leaned in closer as Arizona looked up at her with blue-eyed ignorance. "I know you were a little freaked. You were like an entirely new level of cheerful in there, that's weird even for you. There's no contest, okay?"

Unable to resist a mischievous grin, Arizona giggled, "Oh, I _know_… I mean it's me… _Me_. I'm hot, I've got people lining up for me…"

"Ah, modesty. One of the things I love about you."

"You know it."

After a highly uncomfortable, but amusing dinner with Callie's new roommate, Arizona had retreated back to her dorm room, ready to do battle with the Ellen Monster lurking within. But to her immense surprise and relief, she found Ellen already asleep in bed when she entered the pitch-black apartment. In a hurry, Arizona changed into her pajamas and slipped under the covers of her own bed as quietly as possible so as to not wake Ellen. That was more for Arizona's benefit that it was Ellen's. She didn't particularly care if the older woman lost sleep, but she didn't feel like expending any energy arguing.

* * *

"Hey. Are you okay?" A voice slipped weakly through Arizona's trapped consciousness as she twisted and turned among the sheets. "Seriously. Would you wake up?" The same voice called out, this time accompanied by a rough shake of her shoulder.

Arizona woke up abruptly, gasping for breath and clutching at the sheets as tears burned in the corners of her eyes. She instinctively looked around to Callie's her hands bringing up fistfuls of empty sheets where Callie's warm body should have been. In one harsh wave, reality flooded back to her. Arizona jerked up, dragging her sleeve across her face and trying to hide the tears threatening to overflow as Ellen peered down at her with a mixture of annoyance and worry.

"You alright? You woke me up… and you kept talking and crying out in your sleep."

"Sorry," Arizona muttered, too shaken up by her dream to be offended by Ellen's blunt manner. "I'm sorry. Just a nightmare…" She drew in a ragged breath, and clutched the sheets protectively around her body.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Ellen asked, surprising Arizona by kneeling down by the side of the bed and looking legitimately concerned. Weird.

"Yeah… I'm… Fine," she sniffled, and dragged the fabric of her t-shirt across her face again to dry her tears. Arizona squeezed her eyes shut, feeling the choked sobs build in her chest but doing her best to suppress them in Ellen's presence. She was _not _going to cry in front of this woman. Arizona could count on one hand how many people she had let see her cry, and Ellen was so not going to be one of them.

"Hold on," Ellen narrowed her eyes, looking at Arizona seriously for a few moments before she shook her head, and got up. Arizona watched in teary-eyed curiosity as Ellen yanked her jacket off a peg by the door and left, disappearing down the hallway.

"Well… I guess I've driven her away…" Arizona lost the battle between her resolve and the tears building behind her eyes and buried her head in the pillows. The tears flowed freely down her cheeks as she cocooned herself within the blankets and curled up into a ball.

She had been conditioned as a child not to show weakness. That at first sight of such an imperfection people would pounce and tear her apart. Moving from city to city as a child and being forced to be the new kid practically every year had done nothing to diminish that idea within Arizona until she was an adult and had escaped the cycle of relocation by settling down into the steady routine of college. She had discovered that with a solid group of friends surrounding her, she didn't really care what other people thought about her. So she was cheery, because that's who she was. She bought Heeley's because the kids liked them and they were fun. But even after Med school and her surgical residency she still hated the feeling that she was losing control. That's what these dreams did to her, they made her feel out of control out her own body, her own thoughts. And, she hated it.

She abruptly stiffened as she heard the door creak open again, hoping that Ellen would assume she had fallen asleep and would just leave her alone. She stifled back a groan at the sound of feet shuffling toward her bed and she squeezed her eyes tightly shut and slowed her breathing.

"Arizona?" A quiet voice reached her ears, followed by the feeling of hands pulling back the covers of her blanket cocoon, "Are you okay?"

It was a familiar voice. Too familiar, she must be dreaming. Arizona's eyes flew open and she rolled over until she came face to face with Callie, kneeling by the side of her bed, looking extremely worried. When she caught sight of Arizona's face, Callie got up and carefully folded back the covers, sliding in next to the blonde.

Without a word, Callie wrapped an arm tightly around Arizona's waist, allowing the blonde to turn and bury her face in the crook of her neck as sobs over took her body. Arizona clutched at her t-shirt, knotting and twisting at the grey fabric in her anxiety until her arms found their way around Callie's neck, where she clung for dear life. Callie dropped a light kiss on the mess of blonde curls buried against her shoulder as Arizona's body snuggled even more tightly into hers.

"It's okay," Callie whispered over and over again. "You're okay." Tears stained the fabric of her t-shirt until they eventually slowed, leaving Arizona curled tightly against Callie's body, dragging in deep, shuddering breaths. Callie could feel Arizona's ragged breathing ghosting across her skin as the tears finally stopped and clouded blue eyes fled upwards to search her face.

"H-how…" Arizona stuttered out. "H-how did y-you…"

"Ellen came and told me," Callie whisper, answering the question she knew Arizona was asking. She must have sensed Arizona's obvious disbelief but she just shrugged and shook her head, at a loss.

Arizona twisted her head, peering through the darkness and seeing Ellen lying asleep in her own bed.

"S-she did?"

Callie nodded, pressing a lingering kiss against Arizona's forehead. "Are you okay though?"

"Yeah," Arizona tried to smile but it came out as a sort of strangled half-grimace. "It's always the same one… I… I'm used to it."

"I wish you weren't," Callie replied quietly.

"Me too. But… it helps... I mean you, you help."

* * *

**(The next day)**

"What?" Callie looked extremely offended as Arizona walked past her toward the exit of the clinic. "You're not eating lunch with me?"

"I've got to make a phone call," Arizona explained as she headed out into the bright sunshine, leaving Callie to stand and pout by the clinic doors. "I'll be back in a few minutes."

"Who with?" She called out suspiciously.

"No one," Arizona called over her shoulder airily. "Seriously Calliope, it'll only be for a few minutes."

Callie frowned at the retreating blonde and sat down on a bench outside of the clinic as Arizona disappeared around a corner that led to the pay phone.

Arizona hesitated only a moment before punching in the numbers the John had scribbled down on the piece of paper for her. She had no idea how he had managed to look this up for her, but she suspected he felt slightly guilty about the room switching fiasco and had been more willing to do her the favor. She hadn't seen Ellen at all this morning but the fact that her roommate had actually gone and woken up Callie to come see her had left Arizona feeling extremely confused. She had been under the impression Ellen was homophobic and had hated her…

"Uh yes… Hello, may I please speak to Dr. Webber please?"

"Yes, just one moment…"

After only a few seconds Arizona heard a deep voice sound through the phone. "Yes? This is Dr. Webber."

"Dr Webber, my name is Arizona Robbins… We spoke about a job offer for the Head of Pediatrics at your hospital but I deferred for two years for the Peace Corps, she held her breath, hoping her remembered.

"Ah yes, from Chicago. I believe you know our Dr. Torres?'

"Yes sir... I've uh... worked quite a bit with her over the past few months."

"Good, well you'll have to give her my best. We're very glad she'll be coming back in a few months, she's been sorely missed..." He paused. "I'm sorry Dr. Robbins but was there something I could help you with?"

"Yes actually... I was wondering if the offer for the Head of Pediatrics position still stands?"

"Oh... Well I'm sorry but Dr. Kenley had decided to postpone his retirement, so I'm afraid we won't be hiring anyone for that job for a few years."

Arizona's heart sank. "You have no positions available in pediatrics?"

"Not at this time I'm afraid. We've merged with Mercy West we've been a bit busy lately... I don't think we'll be hiring anyone new for most of the departments..."

"Oh... Well thank you giving me the opportunity to speak with you... Dr. Torres speaks very highly of you... sir."

"I'm sorry it didn't work out Dr. Robbins, I've heard great things about your work in Chicago and if a spot opens up, you'll be the first to know."

"I'd appreciate that... Goodbye Dr. Webber, thank you for taking the time to talk to me."

"Goodbye Dr. Robbins."

* * *

**A/N: So sorry for the wait!**

**Edits in the morning. This story is almost over, maybe 3 or 4 more chapters to go.. ahh!**

**Reviews are like Team Awesome... they're awesome**


	22. Beat Your Heart Out

**A/N: Here's the re-write. It's VERY different (basically a new chapter) so even if you read the previous version before I took it down, I would give this one a read :)**

**I'm getting the feeling that this story is kind of… dragging on.**

**P.S. It's Jenny not Jane, I messed that up last chapter :D Sorry for any confusion.

* * *

**

_You put on your armour_  
_You put up defenses_  
_What are you on to?_  
_Cause I'm here to protect you_  
_So take it easy_  
_I make it so easy_  
_You can lay your head down_  
_And we'll leave it 'til tomorrow  
**-Armour Love by La Roux **_

**New History  
Chapter Twenty Two(Redone): Beat Your Heart Out**

Arizona slammed the phone back into the holder, the satisfying clang of plastic against metal doing nothing to calm the swirl of fear and anger twisting in her stomach. She felt herself fall back against the wall, the rough, cracked surface chafing against her green scrubs as she let her head rest against the plaster. Her hands fidgeted at the hem of her shirt, tugging mercilessly at a stray thread that had come loose, knotting and twisting it nervously around her fingers.

No job. No Seattle.

A ragged sigh parted her lips as she tried to reconcile herself to that fact. They hadn't talked about it since that day in the jungle, what was going to happen. It felt like a lifetime ago, when they had been lost in the jungle, forced to create a world for themselves next to the river bank, surrounded by what felt like an endless expanse of emptiness.

She knew she was blocking out the worst of it. How frightening it had been to hear the light footsteps of some animal walking mere inches away from their tent in the dead of night, and not being able to do anything about it except snuggle closer to Callie and squeeze her eyes tightly shut. How, no matter how hard she had tried, using the river as a shower was never very effective. And, how every single day there was a nagging worry in the back of her mind that they would finally run out of luck and their food supply would slow and eventually stop.

But it had been _just _them. They were closer than she had thought it was possible for two people to be after their stint in the jungle. It had been their own little bubble world. Simple and beautiful while it lasted, transient in its perfection, until it popped the way all bubbles eventually do.

She couldn't help wondering that if Joanne, Mark, Cristina and Addison hadn't been such an oddly effective search party, would they still be out there? If they had found a steady source of food, and somehow figured out some way of maintaining hygiene, would it be so bad? Arizona knew she was being ridiculous, but she couldn't help thinking that she might prefer that life to the dismal one she was returning to in Chicago. Alone.

It had taken a lot for her to make that phone call. She had been dancing around the idea for a few weeks now, but after realizing that she could barely sleep without Callie there, she had decided to make the call. The idea that it wouldn't work had never even crossed her mind.

To them, issue had always been if she would _want _to come and work in Seattle. Not if she could.

Weakly she pushed herself off of the wall, her head spinning with possibilities, rather the lack thereof, as she walked off toward the clinic.

"Hey," Callie smiled; oblivious to Arizona's disappointment the minute the blonde rounded the corner in front of the clinic. She was sitting comfortably against the wall, eating a sandwich with a second one sitting next to her untouched. "I saved you one," Callie said unnecessarily, holding up the second lunch encased in plastic wrap.

Without a word, Arizona plastered a smile over her lips and accepted the sandwich, sitting down next to Callie and leaning back against the wall. With slightly shaky fingers, Arizona tore at the plastic wrap, grateful for something else to focus on rather than the brunette sitting a few inches away.

On the walk back she had tried to convince herself that some things just weren't meant to be. Normally she didn't much stock in the idea of fate, she had seen to many children slip away in front of her eyes to be able to rationalize their deaths, or anything that way anymore, but as an excuse, it was comforting. Now, seeing Callie again, seeing her smile companionably up at her with those gorgeous brown eyes all the idea of it not being 'meant to be' simply flew out of her mind.

"How was your phone call?" Callie finished her sandwich and balled up the wrapped in her hand. "Any interesting news from the other side of the globe?"

"Nope," she lied with a forced smile. "They didn't pick up."

* * *

She ended up walking home by herself. Callie had left early to go do… something back in her dorm. Arizona had been slightly distracted by the news she had received so she had spent most of the afternoon avoiding Callie. They only had a little over a month left, and Arizona knew it was foolish to waste part of it being distant but she couldn't shake the fear that surfaced every time she saw Callie.

Her bag hit the ground with a dull thud as she shut the door behind her.

"Hello," Ellen's greeting was tentative, quiet. Not that Arizona exactly blamed her; the last time they had really talked she had told her to 'back the hell off.' "How… How was it at the clinic?"

"Fine," Arizona nodded tiredly before flopping down onto her bed with a huge sigh. "What were you guys up to today?"

Ellen looked surprised that Arizona had voluntarily continued the conversation. "They're trying to build a clinic about thirty miles from here… so people who can't afford to make all the way down here will have a place to get medicines and such… We were helping them with the construction… you know, setting everything up."

"Sounds neat," Arizona stared blankly up at the ceiling, a frown curving at the corners of her lips. She curled up on top of the ragged blanket, her fingers searching out and mindlessly tugging at a patch that had been sewn into the fabric. "Can I ask you something?" Ellen jerked up at the quiet yet almost friendly tone of Arizona's question. The older woman nodded in reply, biting her lip at the thoughtful look on the blonde's face.

"Why did you help me?" Arizona rolled over onto her stomach; glad for another distraction to drag her mind away from the riptide that was constantly pulling her thoughts toward Callie. "I mean… I thought you _hated_ me. That you hated Calliope and I for… for being together… or whatever."

Ellen looked almost offended by the question but Arizona just looked at her, not offering to take her words back. "I didn't_ hate_ you," she spoke carefully. "I didn't understand it… I underestimated what the two of you…. are to each other…"

"What made you change?" Arizona prodded, determined to nitpick until she got to the bottom of this issue. She considered herself to be a good judge of people, but Ellen's complete personality 180 had thrown her off.

"I don't understand your relationship, but… I understand nightmares..." She shrugged. "I used to get them, often… I'm married and it was always easier for me when my husband was there with me… I went to get Dr. Torres, because I figured it would be the same way with you." Unconsciously, Arizona nodded in affirmation. "When I saw how worried she was and the way she acted around you… Well, it changed my mind."

"Oh…" Arizona felt her lips twist up into a genuine smile. "Well then I'm sorry for… you know… yesterday."

"It's fine, I'm pretty sure I deserved it…" For once the silence that settled between them wasn't uncomfortable or angry and Arizona let herself relax against the blankets again, curled up in her side.

"I'm still annoyed at you, you know…" Arizona remarked in all seriousness and Ellen looked almost hurt until she looked up and saw the mirth dancing in Arizona's blue eyes. "For getting me stuck in here. And I plan on being annoyed for at least another few days."

"I'll do my best to stay out of your way then," Ellen replied with a bemused smirk. "But I do actually have to go now. The group is doing an overnight at the site of the new clinic."

"The group?" Arizona asked, afraid she had either missed some important message or was being deliberately excluded.

"Not you or Callie… I think a few of the other volunteers are staying behind to. But you two are back at the clinic in the morning from what I'd heard." She smiled, grabbing her backpack and tightening the straps.

"I want to go on an overnight," Arizona pouted, jutting her lower lip out and crossing her arms over her chest in the spitting image of an angry four year old.

"I'm sure you can go next time, plus this will make it much easier for you to be annoyed at me," Ellen looked extremely amused. "I don't think this is the fun, marshmallows, playing card games by the fire, type of overnight."

* * *

As soon as Arizona had said goodbye to Ellen, rather pleased with the way she had managed to patch things up with her roommate she walked up to Callie's dorm, the phone call from earlier weighing heavy on her mood. She was hoping against hope that _Jenny_, Callie's oh-so-obvious roommate was one of the ones attending the overnight.

"Calliope?" She called out as she knocked. Her heart sank in her chest as the door opened and didn't reveal her beautiful, stunning girlfriend… instead… Jenny stood there, looking extremely bored and slightly smug though Arizona could think of absolutely no reason why.

"She's in the shower," Jenny said, noting Arizona's shocked and faintly annoyed expression as she moved aside to let the blonde in.

"Aren't you… aren't you going on the overnight?" Arizona asked hopefully, as she sat down on what she assumed was Callie's bed.

"Nope," Jenny yawned and leaned back on the opposite bed. "Callie and I were going to go down to get some dinner… I totally forgot about you, but…. would you like to join us?" Arizona raised an eyebrow, wondering if this woman was actually serious or if she was just _this _stupidly obvious.

"Actually I would love that," Arizona bounced up and down slightly, giving Jenny her widest, most cheerful smile. "Sounds_ so_ fun." She enjoyed that annoyance that the brunette was working hard to disguise.

"Great."

"Arizona," Callie grinned at the sight of her girlfriend as she stepped out of the bathroom, clad in a t-shirt and very tiny shorts. Arizona's gaze slid sideways toward Jenny who was ogling Callie's long legs with absolutely no discretion at all. Arizona couldn't really blame her, Callie was HOT, but Callie was _hers_… in a non-possessive, totally non-stalkerish, and non-obsessive way. "I was just going to head downstairs to look for you to see when you wanted to get dinner."

The blonde couldn't help the triumphant smirk that formed briefly on her lips. If there was one thing she was sure of, it was that Callie was both completely uninterested and completely oblivious to Jenny's… intentions.

"Right now," Arizona replied with a smile. "I'm starved."

"Sounds great," Callie reached down nonchalantly and took Arizona's hand, intertwining their fingers in a way that never failed to make the blonde's heart flutter. "You want to come?" Callie looked briefly in Jenny's direction.

The brunette nodded sullenly, reaching down to grab her coat and walked toward the door. "Yeah… sounds good." She muttered in their direction, turning and waiting for the pair of them by the door.

Arizona couldn't resist. She wasn't normally a particularly jealous person, but Jenny seemed to have a talent for getting under her skin.

She smiled, reaching up and curling her hand around the back of Callie's neck and pulling her downwards, smirking slightly before kissing Callie in a way that was not exactly appropriate to do with company standing barely two feet away. Her fingers tangled in long, dark locks, as Callie's settled lightly on her hips, deepening the kiss.

After a few more seconds, many more than was polite, Arizona pulled away unable to resist the smirk that was still present in her lips.

"Okay…" Jenny looked up from where she had fixed her eyes on a square of floor space during the public display of affection. "Ready to go now?"

"Yep. Lead the way," Arizona gestured toward the door, with another smug smile.

"Why do I feel like you just marked your territory?" Callie leaned down and whispered in Arizona's ear as they followed Jenny down the stairs. "If we were dogs, you would have just peed _all_ over me."

Arizona was momentarily distracted by the feeling of Callie's lips so close to her ear and the feeling of warm breath ghosting across her skin but she decided to forgo the innocence she was sure would be completely see through in Callie's eyes. "Gross," she playfully wrinkled her nose. "But, do you mind?" She asked, her blue eyes darkening slightly as Callie gazed back at her.

"Not at all, just checking."

* * *

Dinner was quick with Arizona's playful mood from earlier disappearing rapidly as the night wore on and Callie getting more and more worried. Jenny seemed resigned to fact that Callie was going to spend the night in Arizona's room since Ellen was gone on the overnight and only looked mildly depressed when they walked back down the stairs, hand in hand.

Callie's mouth opened to ask Arizona what was wrong the second the door shut behind them but she found herself unable to speak as Arizona turned and pinned her against the door, wasting no time in crashing their lips together in an almost bruising, fervent kiss.

Her resolve melted the instant Arizona's lips touched hers and even as her mind was screaming at her to stop, to talk about whatever it was that was bothering Arizona, she felt her hands slide up Arizona's back, burying in soft, blonde curls.

To her surprise, Arizona's hurried fingers didn't rust to the hem of her shirt or the waistband of her shorts; instead they curled around her waist as the kiss slowed somewhat. Callie drew Arizona in closer, slightly frightened by the abrupt change in Arizona but more terrified by the change in the nature of a kiss. It was slow, as Arizona's lips moved tenderly against hers, her hands dragging gentle lines up and down her waist.

All of a sudden it stuck her and Callie pulled away struggling to catch her breath and staring wide-eyed at Arizona. It was sad. It was Erica kissing her in the parking that last time, multiplied by a million. It was a _good bye_.

"What's wrong?" Callie asked, finding Arizona's eyes filled with indescribable longing tainted by an ice cold fear. "Arizona…"

"It's… its nothing," Arizona forced a smile. She seemed to be doing that a lot that day. "Really," she drew in a deep breath. "I'm good."

"No you're not," Callie began intent on getting to the bottom of whatever it was but slightly deterred as Arizona slipped away from her to sit down on the bed, her eyes cast downwards to the pattern on the carpet. "Please-"

"Tell me about Seattle," Arizona's request caught her off guard and something in her tone only added to the fear Callie felt stirring in her chest. "Could you… tell me again?"

"What do you want to know?" Callie asked softly as she walked over to the bed and lay down, drawing Arizona's tense body into her arms.

"Everything… The people you work with… The hospital… The rain… Your apartment…"Arizona shrugged and relaxed into Callie's body. "Everything."

"I live in apartment 502," Callie watched Arizona's lips quirked up into a smile. "The door is blue… which is odd, because really who paints apartment doors blue? But I like it. I live with Cristina, so we always have a full stock of Tequila. It's always messy, textbooks everywhere, and surgical magazines in odd places… Once I found one in the refrigerator, next to half of a pizza… Cristina never really did explain that, you just learn to live with odd stuff like that. It's barely a five minute walk to the hospital so it saves valuable sleeping-in time. Out of my bedroom window you can see across the street to a huge park and then behind it skyscrapers and if you really squint you can kind of see the Space Needle, but Cristina denies it."

"Why would she deny it?"

"She refuses to admit that I have a better view than her," Callie shrugged. "Like I said, you learn to live with her idiosyncrasies… expect them after a while."

"Now the hospital," Arizona encouraged with a sad smile.

"It's huge, at least it feels huge… There's a sky bridge that connects the two wings of the hospital and huge glass windows on either side. In the surgical wing, near the nurses desk there's this huge whiteboard. It has all of the Ors and the times where we line up what procedures are going to be happening, when and with whom. It's Bailey's board really, if you mess it up or try to change anything to drastically she'd probably kill you…It's nice that way though, I mean instead of using a computer. You can see which procedures the Ors are in if you want to watch a specific one and it's also easy to see who's free and who's busy at pretty much any given time…" She let out a fond hum, as she remembered where she used to work… and where she was going to work in just over a month. "Lets see… Oh the attendings scrubs are dark blue, while the residents and interns get light blue. I remember being ecstatic when I first got to pull on a pair of the dark blue scrubs… It's just a different feeling."

Arizona nodded as she traced slow patterns of Callie's forearm with the tip of her index finger. "The residents?" She prompted after a beat of silence.

"The only ones I really know are Izzie, Alex, Lexie, Cristina and Meredith… Lexie and Meredith are sisters, but they don't act it. Meredith's just kind of gloomy all the time while Lexie is more cheerful and… rambling constantly. You've met Cristina, she's Meredith's best friend, the twisted sisters. Izzie is nice enough. She was George's best friend. She was diagnosed with cancer a few weeks before he died… she almost died on the same day but Derek managed to save her… George…" Her voice trailed off, the rest of her story fading into a long series of memories she'd rather not revisit.

"George was…" She had suspected but Callie had never really told her much about her husband before.

"My husband," Callie said shortly. "Briefly."

"And Izzie-"

"Was the person who he cheated on me with," Callie finished her sentence for her with a wry, self-deprecating smile.

"I'm sorry," Arizona leaned up to press a kiss on Callie's cheek before turning and nestling her head into the crook of Callie's neck.

"It was a long time ago," was her only reply.

After a few minutes, Callie broke the silence. "What else did you want to know?"

"I want to ask you… about George," she felt Callie's body stiffen against hers. "But I'm not going to… you can tell me if you want but I don't want to interrogate you…"

"I can tell you a little," Callie answered quietly. After a long pause, she began. "He was probably the kindest person, most selfless I'd ever met… He made a horrible husband, and maybe I was a bad wife, but that doesn't really change the fact he was always just so… nice. Like Bambi. It was so hard to get angry with him, or to stay angry with him but… he could never really put me in front of his friends. Izzie was just always_ there. _He joined the army the day before he died. He wouldn't hurt a fly but he joined the army to be a trauma surgeon so he try to save people… That's just the kind of person he was…" Her voice shook slightly over the next part. "He had a freckle on his hand in the shape of Texas…His face was so… That's how I identified him when he died. And, when he died, he gave everything. Izzie made the decision but I know he would have…"

"Calliope... " Arizona breathed as she shifted so she could pull the brunette into a tight hug. Callie just shook her head sadly. She had promised herself that she wasn't going to cry over George anymore, and it was getting easier to talk about him without feeling tears burn in the corners of her eyes, but that didn't mean it wasn't still extremely hard.

"You're not coming…" Callie said softly a few minutes later. "That's why you've been acting odd today… you're not coming back to Seattle with me."

"No," Arizona replied, her voice trembling as she drew in a deep breath. "I'm not… The phone call today, I was calling Dr. Webber. There's no position open for me, the Head of Pediatrics decided to postpone his retirement."

"I'll… I'll go with you… back to Chicago, or wherever you decide to transfer to… You shouldn't have to be making all of the sacrifices-"

"Not a chance Calliope," Arizona sighed. "You _love_ where you work… I don't even have any idea what that's like. I love what I do, but I don't love the hospital I work at or the people I'm surrounded by every day… I would never let you throw all of that away for me."

"But, I love_ you. _More than any hospital," Callie replied, but Arizona just shook her head.

"I know… I know you would give it all up in a second if I asked you to. But I love you too and that's why I won't let you do this…"

"We could talk on the phone," Callie began desperately. "Meet in the middle until a position opens up at Seattle Grace for you… Long distance sometimes works…" But, Arizona was already shaking her head.

"I don't believe in long distance… for our sake I really want to, but I can't ever see it working. I'd rather have six perfect months than a mess of missed phone calls and a cardboard box full of letters."

"I just… I know we didn't talk about it that much, but after a while I always pictured us back in Seattle. We could finally go on an actual date, and get our own apartment… I wanted to see you in the OR for the first time, wearing those _awesome_ dark blue scrubs…"

"Me too," Arizona smiled, fighting back the tears pooling in the corners of her eyes. "I was going to get to wake up to you every single morning, and see you rocking out in the OR to that music of yours… I wanted to meet all of these people you obviously love so much… I wanted to be part of that world, but… I guess this is our world…"

"What is going to happen…"

"Well," Arizona lost the battle with the tears and allowed them to trace slow patterns down her cheek. "We're probably going to cry… At least I will and I'm going to tell you that I'll never forget you… I know it's cheesy, but it's so true that it almost hurts to even think about going back home by myself. We're going to get on separate planes… and it'll be over… Just… the end of something amazing…"

Callie's face crumpled as she rested her forehead against Arizona's. Tears mixed and breath mingled in the small space between them until Callie leaned down, cupping Arizona's face with both hands and pulling her in for a kiss.

Arizona shifted slightly, her body hovering above Callie's with an arm on either side of Callie's head. "We have a little more than a month," said sadly as she looked down at Callie with pure love shining in her blue eyes. "Maybe four or five weeks." She added as her eyes traced carefully over Callie's tear stained face, taking in every single detail and realizing with a jolt that in five weeks she wouldn't be able to do that anymore.

Callie didn't answer, just stared up at Arizona, matching her gaze before it all became to much. The finality of it shocked her. She had never been in a relationship with an expiration date before. Some of her past relationships had almost certainly been doomed to fail from the very beginning but she hadn't thought this would be one of them.

Arizona was practically lying on top of her now, her tears falling onto Callie's cheeks as she leaned down and crushed their lips together. Callie kissed her back, pulling Arizona as close to her as possible as she wrapped her arms around Arizona's waist.

For the first time, when she knew a relationship was coming to an end, Callie didn't regret a single minute.

**

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**A/N: All the Jenny drama arrives next chapter get ready XD**

**Edits in the morning. I believe there are only 3 more chapters to go (not 100% sure yet) so... yeah, the end is near.**

**Review... pretty please... even though you might hate me?**


	23. The Way we Were Before

**A/N: Thanks for all of the reviews guys, especially toward the end of the story... It's awesome when you guys take time to comment.**

**NOTE: This chapter is set during the last two weeks.**

**So the Jenny drama turned into something quite different…**

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**New History**  
**Chapter Twenty Three: The Way we were Before **

It was falling apart, and they both knew it.

Arizona lay awake, her fingers tracing a light pattern across the arm draped loosely over her waist. Callie was peacefully asleep beside her, nestled against her body as the brunette's deep even breaths ghosted across the bare skin of Arizona's shoulder. This time it was Jenny who was stuck on an overnight and Ellen had gracefully managed to mask any surprise or disapproval she might have felt when Arizona had informed her that she was going to be sneaking up a few floors to go see her girlfriend.

She couldn't help the frown that had been tugging at the corners of her lips for the past half hour, or the timely bout of insomnia that hadn't seemed to affect Callie in the slightest. So she lay, curled up in the brunette's embrace and willing herself to fall into the same deep, cleansing sleep. It wasn't working.

Her fingers danced lightly down Callie's arm, eventually settling on the hand that had been tucked under her side and moving it gently to intertwine their fingers. She savored that kind of brief contact that most couples took for granted: holding hands, even kissing in public. Her and Callie's relationship existed mainly between a set of dorms and any brief stolen moments in the clinic. It had never really bothered her before; the lack physical contact they had been able to share, because they could always escape back to their dorm and just _be,_ without having to worry about the wrong pair or eyes catching they acting too couple-y. It had never been a problem, they had both accepted it as just something they were going to have to deal with. But that had been when spending forever together had been a plausible possibility. She had really understood that they would never have that.

She had even known she had wanted that.

Things had been different over the past months. As the days on the calendar seemed to fly by, heedless of the fact they were disappearing much to fast for Arizona's liking, she had felt something change. It was slow at first, innocent. They began to spend more time apart, until they realized that they didn't seem to know how to be _together _anymore. The easy company they had once enjoyed had vanished in what felt to Arizona like the blink of an eye, replaced by awkward conversations and mutual avoidance.

She hated the way they were spending what she knew were the last few days they were going to have together. But ignoring the obvious elephant in the room instead of confronting it, was so much easier.

"What the heck did I _do?" _Arizona whispered, turning over on her side and propping herself up on one elbow to stare adoringly at the brunette next to her. She stretched out a tentative hand, brushing a few stray hairs out of Callie's face before she leaned back down and nestled her head into the rough pillow.

She watched Callie sleep, knowing it was slightly creepy but also knowing it was hugely preferable to staring blankly up at the ceiling for the next few hours.

"What did we do?" She repeated quietly to the sleeping figure beside her. "Did we really think… did we'd ever… Did we…" Her voice trailed off as she foolishly looked toward the brunette for an answer. Callie just shifted slightly in her sleep, ignoring Arizona's incomplete question that was now hanging in the empty air, tormenting the blonde.

* * *

Callie woke up slowly, dragging her eyes open and wincing as the glare from the sun streaming in through the window hurt her eyes. She stretched out, letting her eyelids flutter closed for a brief moment before reaching out an arm to tilt the digital clock toward her. She groaned as she read the numbers flashing across the small screen.

_8:45 a.m._

As the sleep-filled haze slowly cleared and the unfortunate reality settled into her mind it stuck Callie that she was alone. She reached out, still not opening her eyes and felt across to the other side of the small bed. No one. The sheets were cold and Arizona was nowhere to be seen.

She reluctantly forced her eyes open again, scanning the small dorm and listening for the sound of a shower running. She was expecting to see Arizona perched in one of the chairs opposite the bed, or at least she was expecting some sort of note, but there was nothing, no sign of her normally cheerful girlfriend.

The almost frightening part was, Callie wasn't exactly surprised. She could tell things had been off lately. Every action between them had been slightly forced, either too genuine or not genuine enough. It was impossible to just go back to the 'way things were' when they both knew that they 'way things were' was going to vanish in now thirteen, short days.

With a resigned frown, Callie got up, tossing the covers haphazardly back onto the bed and digging through her drawers for something to wear.

She got down to breakfast about ten minutes later, finding Arizona easily among the groups of volunteers and steps of foldable tables that had been set up. The blonde was sitting next to Sam and Jenny, both of whom had returned from the overnight about an hour earlier. Arizona flashed her an almost apologetic smile as Callie walked over, though she saw the blonde's gaze falter slightly when she took the seat next to Jenny and instead of the open one next to her.

Callie barely saw Arizona all day after that. Instead of eating lunch together the way the always did, Arizona had worked straight through the meal while Callie had fabricated some excuse about needing to return to her dorm so she could escape the suffocating air of the clinic.

It wasn't until that night when they found themselves sitting on opposite sides of Callie's dorm that was once again magically Jenny-free, that they realized quite how much they had let everything change. They had nothing to talk about. So they sat, sneaking glances in the other's direction, not knowing how to begin, or what on earth to say.

Arizona just sighed leaning her head back against the wall before turning her blue eyed gaze toward the brunette. "You've been avoiding me," she stated flatly.

"So have you," Callie replied, shrugging her shoulders.

"I just… I don't know what to say anymore…" Arizona opened and closed her mouth helplessly, raising her hands up into the air in a gesture of defeat as she looked sadly at Callie. "It was never… It wasn't supposed to _happen_ this way."

"I know…" Callie shook her head, running a hand through her hair before letting it drop to the floor at her side. She looked pleadingly up at Arizona from across the room, her brown eyes searching Arizona's features for a hint of reassurance and lowering slightly as they found none.

"I mean… It wasn't supposed to be this hard. We weren't supposed to last this long… Now all I can think about is how on earth I'm supposed to walk away from and get on a different plane in thirteen days… and also how much I want to hit Jenny with a brick."

"You want to hit Jenny with a brick?" The hint of an amused and incredulous smile curved at the corners of Callie's lips. "Why?"

"Please," Arizona shrugged again, but her fingers nervously pulled at the stray thread in the carpet. "She has a huge crush on you… What with all the staring, and practically drooling every time she sees you… It's obvious."

"You jealous?" Callie asked, a full smile now making an appearance over her expression as she teased the blonde. "Really?"

"A little," Arizona's eyes narrowed. "You don't seem nearly as surprised as you should by this information."

"I knew."

"You_ knew?" _Arizona spluttered, slightly indignant. "But you… You never seemed to notice."

"I noticed. I just wasn't interested," Callie rolled her eyes in Arizona's direction. "And I told her that I wasn't interested after she tried…" Callie sensing that she might have gone to far, shut her mouth, hoping that Arizona wouldn't pounce on her unfinished sentence.

No suck luck.

"After she tried to _what?" _Arizona asked, her voice frighteningly calm.

"Never mind-"

"What?" Arizona demanded with a tinge of anger.

"Kiss me," Callie replied guiltily. "She tried to kiss me, it was more then a month ago…"

"That… _That…" _She exhaled forcefully, seemingly not able to find a suitable expletive to describe Jenny. "_That_… Ugh."

"I told her right away, though…" Callie added quickly. "No kissing for me… I mean, unless it was with you… I'm sure I phrased it better when I was telling her off."

"I want to hit her with a brick even more now," Arizona frowned. "If that's possible."

"Please don't," Arizona raised an eyebrow in Callie's direction. "I mean sure… go ahead, but I would rather not see you spend the next twenty years jail."

"I would rock the jumpsuit," Arizona replied with a smirk.

"You would probably be the only person in the entire world to make the orange jumpsuits hot…"

"Just one thing though…" Arizona bit her lip, looking uncharacteristically nervous. "It might sound a little third grade drama-ish but… why… why did you go and sit next to her today?" Arizona's cheeks flooded with a blush.

"For the same reason we're sitting about five feet apart right now," Callie answered. "It's just too much sometimes… I honestly didn't expect us to be anything that would last… I can't… I don't want to say good bye…"

"I came here to run away from a relationship," Arizona mused softly.

"Me too."

"Maybe… maybe this should just be _it_… for us…" Arizona suggested, hating the words the second they left her mouth and hating the hurt she saw flicker in Callie's brown eyes.

"Is that what you want?"

"No," blue eyes fled to Callie's face in surprise. "I _want _to spend the next thirteen days with you, perfectly happy and stupidly in love the way we were a month ago… I want to be able to sit next to you on the plane when we leave and _know_ that we're going to end up in the same place… but that's not going to happen, and I can't spend the next thirteen days pretending I'm happy…. Because I won't be."

"How… How did this even happen?" Callie asked quietly, echoing Arizona's words from the night before. "How did we think this could possibly work?" She sounded almost angry at herself.

"We thought it wasn't going to last…" Came the soft reply. "And when it seemed like it might last, we started getting ahead of ourselves… I didn't call earlier… we would have known it could last if I had called Dr. Webber a few months ago."

"Don't… Don't do that…" A tired sigh escaped Callie's lips. "We couldn't have known… I just didn't think it was going to be so hard."

"I'm sorry," Arizona didn't know what else to say. "And I'm going to miss you… so so so much... I don't want to be the next person who walks away from you... who hurts you."

"Arizona..." Callie finally gave in; crawling across the floor to Arizona's side and wrapping an arm around her shoulders. Arizona nestled her head against Callie's shoulder, slowly relaxing into Callie's sudden embrace. "I don't regret you and I for a _second_. You're nothing like Erica or George, okay? _We've _decided to walk away from each other, and _we're_ hurting each other... It means a lot that you even wanted to come back to Seattle with me, so no... you are not going to be the next person who walks away from me... And I wouldn't change a second of what happened during these past six months..."

"Even getting lost in the jungle?" Arizona joked weakly, raising a hand to wipe the tears from her cheeks. "God, why can't I stop crying..."

Callie leaned down, kissing Arizona's cheek lightly with a sad smile. "Not even that... I got you all to myself, didn't I? No roommates... No John..."

"I'm just sorry..."

"I don't know what we're apologizing for," A small, sad smile appeared briefly over Callie's lips. "But I'm sorry too… and I have no idea how I'm going to function in Seattle without you…"

"You'll be fine," Arizona assured her. "Just the way you were before… awesome, amazing…. badass."

"I don't think we can go back to the way we were before."

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**A/N: So actually not much Jenny drama.. but there is still a bit more between her and Arizona next chapter... (no bricks though... sorry :D)**

**Next chapter might actually be the last one... and once again tomorrow morning there will probably be a re-write to parts of this chapter. (But not the entire thing like last time.)**

**Reviews are awesome :D**


	24. Watching the Fantasies Decay

**A/N: So final chapter guys... A huge thank you to everyone who left reviews and I'm definitely going to try and respond to those who leave reviews on this chapter because... it's been five months of writing this story and it means a lot that people have stuck with this story for so long.**

**Final Song list (in case anyone is interested…)**

_It's Only Life by Kate Voegele_

_Miracle by Paramore_

_Time is Running Out by Muse_

_This is Your Life by The Killers_

_The Resolution by Jack's Mannequin_

_Say When by The Fray_

_It's Not Over by Secondhand Serenade_

_Impossible by Kelly Clarkson_

_Electric Feel by MGMT_

_Little Pieces by Gomez_

_Addicted by Kelly Clarkson_

_Yellow by Coldplay_

_Colourless Colour by La Roux_

_Growing Pains by La Roux_

_Can't Stand It by Nevershoutnever_

_It Ends Tonight by The All American Rejects_

_Problematique by Hot Chelle Rae_

_Wonderwall by Oasis_

_My Backwards Walk by Frightened Rabbit_

_Misery by Maroon 5_

_Only Fooling Myself by Kate Voegele_

_Armour Love by La Roux_

_Falling Away With You by Muse_

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_**Promise to hold you close and pray**_  
_**Watching the fantasies decay**_  
_**Nothing will ever stay the same**_

_**All of the love we threw away**_  
_**All of the hopes we cherished fade**_  
_**Making the same mistakes again**_  
_**Making the same mistakes again**_

_**I can feel my world crumbling**_  
_**I can feel my life crumbling  
**_**-Falling Away with You by Muse **

**New History  
Chapter Twenty Four: Watching the Fantasies Decay**

The clock by her bedside flashed 4:00 a.m. in bright red, dotted lines that cut through the early morning darkness with the ease of a scalpel. Still the brunette lay awake, her hands nestled behind her head as her brown eyes remained fixed on the pattern of repetitive ceiling tiles above her. The surrounding blankets were mussed, evidence of her fitful sleep that had eventually ended at 3:30 in the morning when she had awoken for no apparent reason, already sick with dread at the prospect of the coming day.

She had barely slept at all that past night. Her exhaustion that stemmed from a crisis-filled day at the clinic had seemed overwhelming just a few hours before but the second her head had hit the pillow, she was unable to fall asleep. So, she stayed awake, tossing and turning fitfully among the blankets in the same way that she had done as a child on the night before her birthday or Christmas Eve. Instead of excitement, it was fear that kept her awake into the early hours of the morning.

Callie knew they had both tried. Over the past twelve days, both women had made an effort to enjoy their last few days; spending as much time together as possible and putting their impending departure in the back of their minds. Arizona had convinced John to let them go with the group on an overnight, and while it definitely had not been a marshmallows-around-a-campfire type of overnight it was still a nice change of pace. But the fact that it would all be over soon was never far below the surface. Sometimes Callie would catch Arizona looking at her, just looking at her, but not in the shy flirty way she used to. Instead she looked at Callie in a way that made the brunette not want to do anything but rush over and pull her into a hug. But she couldn't do that because, once again, that would require acknowledging the elephant in the room; the fact it was ending all _too_ soon.

A sigh echoed through the silent room, as her brown eyes momentarily left the ceiling to glance toward Jenny's bed, back to the alarm clock, out the window and finally back to the ceiling.

That night however, the night before the last day, the delicate charade had proved to be too much. Callie had walked with Arizona to her dorm but when they had both hesitated at the door, Arizona had just nodded.

"I…" Her voice had trailed off as her blue eyes fled to Callie's face, begging her to understand why she wanted to spend their second to last night alone.

"I get it," Callie had replied, her voice carrying no trace of hurt or anger to Arizona's relief. "I'll see you tomorrow morning, okay?"

Her reward had been a grateful smile, briefly slipping across Arizona's lips until it disappeared under the weight of what was waiting for the two of them over the next day. That had been happening a lot lately. She had kissed Arizona for a moment before the blonde's arms had slipped around her waist and pulled her into a tight hug. Callie hated how every hug or kiss between them always ended up feeling like a goodbye, a rehearsal for the grand finale they were both dreading.

_4:23 a.m._

She startled as her phone buzzed loudly on the night table. Sticking a hand through the darkness, she felt across the rough wood until her fingers collided with a thin metallic object that she grasped and brought toward her face.

She hadn't been able to get a single bar of service in the dorm rooms, or really anywhere, and during those six months her cell phone had transitioned from being a necessity to being simply a very expensive clock.

_Mark. _

She hurried out of her room, clutching her cell phone and pressing the green call button once she was safely out of earshot in the hallway.

"Mark?"

"Hey Callie," she could barely hear his voice as it crackled and wavered over the poor connection. "What time is it there?"

"Just after four o'clock in the morning," she answered, with a small smile. Now who was the one oblivious to the time difference? "Look Mark I'll call you back in a few minutes from the pay phone… I can barely hear you."

"Okay Cal, I'm in my apartment… You still remember the number?"

"Ha ha," she scoffed, pressing the end-call button and slipping the phone back into her pocket.

Callie opened the door as slowly as possible, wincing at the loud squeal that emanated from the rusted hinges and looking worriedly in Jenny's direction, but she remained blissfully asleep.

Hurriedly, Callie toed off her shoes and switched out her pajama bottoms and tank top for a t-shirt and shorts before she pulled her shoes back on, grabbed her backpack and walked quickly out of the dorm.

It was still dark as she pushed open the door on the bottom floor of the dorm building and stepped out on to the street. She knew the way to the pay phone by heart from the numerous calls she had made to Mark, Addison and even once or twice to Cristina over the past few months, so the darkness didn't faze her.

After about five minutes of walking, she rounded the final corner and dug a few coins out of her pocket. Squinting through the darkness at the faded and battered sticker on the side of the phone that listed the price, she deposited the correct amount of coins and dialed Mark's number.

He picked up on the first ring. "Callie?"

"Yep. What's up?" She stuffed her free hand into her pocket, fiddling with the three extra coins she had grabbed. Hearing Mark's voice was nice, comforting even. It helped remind her that she had at least a few things to look forward to upon her return to Seattle.

"You haven't called in a while… plus I wanted to ask you what time your flight gets in the day after tomorrow, so I can pick you up at the airport."

"I'll get back to Seattle around ten thirty p.m. tomorrow… Today is our last day and we leave really early in the morning tomorrow." She stated dully, but Mark obviously missed the drop in her level of enthusiasm.

"What about Blondie?" Callie's stomach twisted into painful knots as Mark's teasing question reached her ears.

"What about her?" She asked bleakly, knowing exactly what Mark was asking but preferring not to have to say it out loud.

"Well, she's coming right?" Again, he missed the change in her tone. "I mean you two seemed pretty… close when we saw you… And from what she said when I talked to her I just assumed that…"

"She's not coming, Mark."

"But-"

"There's no job for her… The Head of PEDs… whatever his name is, decided to postpone retirement and Webber told her he had no room in PEDs."

"Dr. Kenley. I always knew I hated that guy for a reason," Mark sighed, the sound crackling through the phone line. "You're not going with her are you?" He asked, almost tentatively.

"She works in Chicago, but no… I'm not going with her," she let out a dry laugh. "She won't let me."

"Would you hate me if I said I was glad about that?"

"A little."

"Hold on- _Not right now._" Callie could hear Mark talking to someone else off of the phone, having some sort of short, hurried argument. "Hey Callie?" She could still hear someone complaining in the background.

"Yeah?"

"Cristina wants to talk to you… should I tell her-"

"Cristina's in your apartment?" She nestled the phone in the crook of her shoulder and leaned against the wall. Callie couldn't reconcile herself with the idea of Mark and Cristina actually hanging out. Normally, if it was anyone else, she would assume that Mark had slept with her but it was Cristina who had on many occasions had made her disdain of Mark Sloan quite clear.

"Yeah," Mark replied defensively. "We hang out."

"Since when?"

"Since now. Anyway, want me to tell her to get lost?"

"Nah," Callie shrugged. "I'll talk to her."

"Hey Callie," Cristina's voice came over the phone abruptly. "Is it true?"

"Is what true?" Callie asked warily.

"Blondie isn't coming back with you?"

"No… we wanted to, but she couldn't get a job…" Callie sighed, slightly off put by the uncharacteristic silence from the other end of the line.

"You're still my roommate right?"

"Uh yeah. Cristina what does this have to do-"

"Well… I'll have the tequila ready for when you get home," came the blunt reply from the other side of the world before the resident hurriedly handed the phone back to Mark.

"Sorry about that," Mark said sheepishly as Cristina marched back across the hall to her own apartment.

"It's okay. It helps a little."

"I'm so sorry, Callie." Her expression softened at the concern in her friend's tone. "This whole Peace Corps thing was supposed to be you getting away from all that…"

"Well that backfired," A small smirk tugged at the corners of her lips. "But could you just distract me? Tell me about Lexie or Bailey… or something."

"Lexie is doing fine," Callie could practically hear him beaming through the phone. "She's getting more and more frantic as the wedding gets closer… It's only two weeks away now and it's like she's PMS-ing constantly or something… Last week she snapped and started sobbing because the florist called and said they ran out of… some flower… Meredith told me that my only job was to stay out of the way, and let the girls deal with everything… Izzie Stevens is a nightmare. She had me trying on tuxes for three hours yesterday… I thought Derek was over exaggerating about when she planned their wedding… but he wasn't."

"Sounds fun."

"You're still my best man, right?" He asked plaintively. "I'm warning you, if you back out now, Lexie might have an aneurysm."

"You won't make me wear a tux?" She replied guardedly, her nose winkling in disgust.

"No tux," he replied jovially. "My best man has got to look hot, right?"

"I'm not even going to go into how many things are wrong with that sentence." Callie relaxed, finally realizing after more than two years how much she had missed this with her best friend.

"So that's a yes?"

"Yeah," Callie replied glumly. "I'll do it."

"Thanks, Torres." Callie sighed, the corner of her mouth twitching up into a smile. Sometimes it was so easy to make Mark happy.

* * *

Arizona tossed and turned, reaching up to tug her pillow more firmly under her head before she gave up trying to sleep with an exasperated sigh and let her eyes flick toward the alarm clock at her bedside.

_4:27 a.m._

She had barely managed to get three hours of sleep that night. It seemed like every other minute something would jerk her awake again and when she reached out instinctively to shuffle closer to Callie's warm body her hands only tangled in cold sheets.

She had realized that night exactly how much she had come to rely on Callie's body next to hers as she slept. Even after the roommate swap, Jenny and even Ellen had given up objecting when they opened the door late at night to find a very tired Callie or Arizona waiting on the other side. So really aside from the first few weeks this was the first night they had spent apart in a while. And, Arizona hated it.

The irony wasn't lost on her. Even as she tried desperately to lull her racing thoughts to sleep, she couldn't stop the 'what ifs' that filled her mind.

They had both come to escape relationships and had ended up crashing headlong into each other, and now they were both facing another very painful end. From one train wreck named Joanne to another beautiful disaster all within a short, six months.

She almost hated herself for it.

Maybe if she had forced herself to cling to that last shred of control and kept Callie at a distance simply because she was a newborn, things would have ended differently. Or they wouldn't have ended, because there wouldn't have been a beginning.

She _almost_ hated herself for it, but she couldn't.

Because no matter how hard she tried to regret what had happened, thinking that it would somehow make their parting easier, she failed until eventually she had decided it was impossible and stopped trying.

On a whim and fueled by exasperation Arizona pulled the covers back and slipped out of bed. Pulling on a pair of shorts and a swapping her oversize college t-shirt for one from her drawer, she fumbled around in the darkness until she found her shoes and silently let herself out of the dorm.

She walked toward the clinic, her head spinning with possible explanations as to why exactly she was there at 4:40 a.m. on her last day, but she passed it and kept walking, not quite sure exactly where she was headed.

Arizona eventually settled for a small bench about a block past the clinic. Her foot tapped anxiously against the ground as she looked up and down the street that was familiar even through the darkness. So far, her early morning walk wasn't exactly helping, she was still exhausted and now she had the added bonus of being slightly cold.

"Arizona?" Callie squinted through the darkness at the small figure sitting on the bench. She wasn't quite sure if it was her imagination or if someone else had been having trouble sleeping.

Arizona looked up in surprise as Callie walked toward her, a small relived smile gracing her features for a moment. "Couldn't sleep," she explained sheepishly, gesturing around her with a stray hand before she brought it to rest in her lap, fiddling with the edge of her t-shirt.

"Me neither," Callie took the seat next to her. "Plus, Mark called."

"Is everything okay?" Arizona asked, as she leaned closer to Callie's warmth, already feeling slightly better with the brunette so close.

"Yeah… He's getting married soon," Callie bit her lip. "And he wanted to know what time I would be getting in tomorrow."

"Oh… right," Arizona shivered. "Of course."

She felt Callie wrap an arm around her shoulders, as she closed the last centimeters of space between them and pulled Arizona close. The blonde snuggled down into Callie's arms, relishing the warmth that filled her body at such a simple touch, and leaned her head against Callie's shoulder. It was too early to worry about them being seen by passersby.

A contented sigh escaped her lips as she felt Callie press a light kiss against the top of her head.

They sat like that in silence for a few minutes, until Callie looked down and an adoring smile settled across her lips. Arizona was asleep. Her head was snuggled in the crook of Callie's neck, and one of her hands was tucked under her chin, while the other was wrapped firmly around Callie's waist.

Instead of suggesting they both head back to the dorm to try to find some breakfast, even though it was a bit early, Callie settled down on the bench and gently trailed one of her hands up and down Arizona's arm as she waited for the sun to rise.

* * *

Hours later, Callie watched Arizona wake up as the faint glow of the sun on the horizon warmed her face. She yawned, seeming slightly bewildered as she took in their surroundings and eventually embarrassed as she looked up at Callie.

"I fell asleep?" A faint blush appeared over Arizona's cheeks.

"Only for a few hours," Callie leaned down and kissed Arizona quickly, trying to stop her mind from imagining what it would be to wake up to Arizona every day.

"A few hours?" Arizona jerked upright, her eyes wide and incredulous.

"Relax," Callie smiled in amusement. "It wasn't _that _long…"

"But you must be really sore from me like… using you as a giant teddy bear," she looked mortified.

"Really, it's fine."

"What time is it, even?" Arizona stifled another yawn as she relaxed back into Callie's arms.

"Around seven… we should probably be at the clinic in about fifteen minutes."

* * *

At the end of the day Arizona stood in the locker room, looking around the small, cramped space and wondering at how much she was actually going to _miss_ a bathroom. She had just finished up with her last patient at the clinic and had walked in the small room to retrieve an extra change of clothes she had kept on a small shelf by the wall and her backpack.

But, even though her backpack was settled firmly on her shoulders and her clothes were tucked away inside of it, she was overcome with a wave of nostalgia. It was a bathroom after all. But oddly enough, it held some of her favorite memories.

As she was looking around, the door slowly opened and Callie walked inside. She brightened when she saw Arizona standing there, but she also looked slightly confused at what Arizona was actually doing.

"I'm going to miss this bathroom," Arizona sighed heavily as she waited for Callie to collect her own things. "I mean you don't think of bathrooms as really important places… but," she waved her arms around. "This was a _very_ important bathroom."

"Really?" Callie raised an eyebrow in amusement. She retrieved her stuff from the shelf and packed it quickly, all the time watching as Arizona looked sadly around the room.

"Yep," Arizona answered with a jerk of her head. "I mean I told you that I wanted to date you... right over there," she pointed to a spot across the room. "And the first time we were in here you practically freaked out when we both had to change in the same room," her blue eyes sparkled in amusement. "But now I know _why_."

"And you seemed to like shoving me up against that wall," Callie added her own memories, pointing to a spot near the door with a teasing smirk. "_A lot_."

"It's not like you _minded_." Arizona frowned, as she stood up, brushing invisible dust off of her t-shirt. "But yeah… I'm really going to miss this bathroom."

"Me too… I guess," Callie looked slightly somber for a moment. "You ready?" She asked quietly, gesturing toward the door.

"As I'll ever be," Arizona answered with the ghost of a grin as she followed Callie outside into the main room to say their goodbyes.

They walked back to the dorms hand in hand after that, not exactly worried about what people would think because they were leaving the next day anyway.

"We have some group dinner tonight," Callie remarked quietly, as she brushed her thumb against the back of Arizona's hand. "It's at six."

"We only have a half an hour, should we just head down to the main room to wait with everyone… say our goodbyes?"

"Sounds good," Callie gave Arizona's hand a light squeeze.

The rest of their walk was silent. No words really seemed enough to fill that silence so they both just contented in what they were both sure would be one of their last times together.

The room was already filled with volunteers when they arrived and Arizona relinquished her grip on Callie's hand briefly to go and talk to Ellen while Callie wandered through the crowd, trying to find Sam.

"Hey Callie!" Tim walked toward her through the crowd, joining her and Sam.

"Hey Tim, how's the leg?" She had removed his cast a long time ago but she hadn't really seen him since and it was nice to know that her maverick surgery in the middle of the desert was holding up.

"Perfectly fine," he smiled. "I just wanted to thank you again for what you did out there…"

"You're welcome," Callie returned his smile. "You were a very good patient, no screaming or anything… very macho."

Across the room Arizona walked up to Jenny who was standing by herself off to the side. She looked slightly nervous as Arizona walked up, even though Arizona smiled politely and did her best to disguise the dislike she held for the other woman.

"Hey," Jenny greeted the cheerful blonde, slightly wary of Arizona's sudden presence. It's not like they had ever spent that much time together. "What's up."

"Oh... nothing much." Arizona cheerfully shrugged her shoulders. "But I have been meaning to talk to you about something."

"Oh yeah?" Jenny asked nervously.

"Yeah," Arizona's grin impossibly brighter. "See I know you have this huge crush on Callie," Jenny opened her mouth to object but Arizona held up a hand. "And while I can't blame you, I mean she's HOT… But, I know you tried to kiss her and I kind of hate you for that."

Jenny gulped. "I-"

"Please don't do it again or I will give in to the very strong urge I have to hit you with a brick…" Arizona smiled again and started backing away, enjoying the surprised look on Jenny's face. "Oh and Ellen wanted me to tell you she is going to be rooming with you tonight." She added over her shoulder before disappearing into the crowd in search of Callie.

* * *

The second the door shut behind them Callie turned and pinned Arizona against it, cradling her face and desperately crushing their lips together with an intensity that made Arizona dangerously weak in the knees.

A moan tore from her lungs as Callie's leg found a way between her own and her hands desperately scrabbled at clothing, trying to rid Callie of it in the quickest way possible. The brunette's hands dragged up her waist and tangled in her hair, pulling their bodies flush against one an other and drawing another moan from Arizona's lips.

It was the last time. It was amazing but almost unbearably sad at the same time as their lips fought for dominance and hands tugged at clothes.

But that didn't change the fact it was the last time.

"I don't want to go to sleep," Arizona murmured, hours later as she lay, curled up in Callie's arms on the bed. "I can't… I just… this can't be the end…"

"It is…" Callie replied quietly, her breath ghosting across the skin on Arizona's neck. "Tomorrow we're going to get on separate planes… and like you told me thirteen days ago, we're probably going to cry… but we have to do it… because I won't ask you to give up your career to come live in Seattle with me and you won't let me give up mine to come to Chicago with you…"

"I just… I love you," Arizona turned and pressed her lips against Callie's for a moment, snaking her arms around Callie's neck. "That doesn't just go away… I don't want it to go away…" She was crying again and let her eyes flutter shut for a moment as Callie brushed her thumb against her cheek, wiping them away.

"I love you too," Callie smiled sadly down at the tearful blue eyes that peered up at her. "And I don't think it's ever going to go away."

* * *

The next morning they woke up and dressed silently, once again words didn't seem to be enough so neither of them tried, beyond the necessities.

Ellen surprised both Arizona and Callie by pulling her into a tight hug as they stood on the tarmac, at the airport. She murmured something in Arizona's ear and glanced at Callie. Arizona nodded in a dejected reply and Ellen just looked sadly back at the broken PEDs surgeon and nodded a goodbye to Callie.

Callie walked up after that, wrapping an arm around Arizona's waist and kissing her quickly before they both walked toward the plane.

All the volunteers piled onto one plane that would take them a larger airport where they would all catch planes to their respective homes. Callie had said a quick goodbye to Sam and Tim that morning as well as Jenny though Arizona had been standing next to her, practically supervising them and staring daggers at Jenny the entire time... with a smile on her face.

Arizona clutched Callie's hand as the plane took off, barely able to keep the tears behind her eyes as Callie rested her head on Arizona's shoulder and brushed her hand against the blonde's cheek comfortingly.

The flight was over all too soon and the moment both women had been dreading was finally upon them. They said one last goodbye to everyone, exchanged last minutes phone numbers and email addresses until everyone had dispersed throughout the airport, leaving the two surgeons with nothing to face but each other.

They walked out of the gate area, both clutching tickets that had distinctly different gate numbers on them, until eventually they were forced to part ways.

I'll… I'll never forget you," Arizona bit her lip and shook her head, looking down at the scuffed and tiled floor. "God, I hate how cliché that sounds-"

"Don't," Callie's lips curved up into a small, tearful smile. "Just don't."

She reached forward, pulling Arizona in a tight hug and wrapping both arms around the smaller woman's body. Arizona let out a gasp and buried her head in the crook of Callie's neck, her arms winding around the brunette's body as if she was clutching onto a lifeline. She felt Callie's fingers gently running through her hair as her other hand clutched around the small of her back, just as tightly.

"_Flight 2134 to Seattle will now begin boarding," _a monotone voice echoed through the airport and Callie felt Arizona stiffen in her arms.

Callie didn't let go, not yet anyway. She pulled back and trailed a light hand down the side of Arizona's face before pulling the blonde into a kiss. She didn't care that they were in an airport, surrounding by people carrying suitcases who were staring at them with looks of confusion and even the rare flash of disgust written across their faces.

Arizona's tears were dripping onto Callie's cheeks as she continued the kiss, their lips moving against each other's in a way that was so achingly wonderful and familiar that Arizona never wanted to let go. Against her better judgment, she moved her hands up, curling them around Callie's neck and feeling her them bury into dark curls.

"_Will all passengers for the 2134 flight to Seattle please make your way to the gate."_

Callie pulled away and leaned her forehead against Arizona's, drawing in a deep shuddering breath. A weak smile graced her expression as she looked at Arizona before she pulled away fully.

"Goodbye Arizona," She murmured softly, placing a light kiss on Arizona's cheek before she backed away. Arizona felt Callie's hand slip through her grasp until she couldn't feel anything anymore and she just watched as Callie took a few steps before turning away abruptly and walking away.

"Bye," She whispered, standing stock still in the middle of the airport and watching the brunette disappear down the crowded hallway until she was eventually out of sight.

She stood there for a while, maybe ten minutes, just watching the crowds pass by around her until she found the strength inside of herself to turn away and walk down the hall in the opposite direction. She walked toward gate 57, her flight to Chicago, her old life and hopefully somewhere along the way, a Dunkin' Donuts.

Three months later, she got a phone call.

**The End.**

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**A/N: I may edit this chapter in a bit...**

**Also, do you guys want an epilogue? If enough people want one I can write one...**

**Please review? Be angry. Be sad. Throw things. :)**


	25. Epilogue

**A/N: WOW... okay so A LOT of you guys wanted an epilogue so here you go :) Thank you for each and every review on last chapter, I loved them all.**

**These are little bits of their three months apart. It's not meant to be every email or phone call between them during that time, just little bits and pieces.**

**P.S. NOTE: there may be quite a few typos and things but I will edit this chapter in a few hours...**

**

* * *

**

**New History**  
**Epilogue **

**_April 5__th__, 2010  
8:54 p.m._**

_Dear Calliope,_

_I just got back to my apartment a few hours ago, and… it turns out somebody actually lives there now. As in not me. I lived together with Joanne before I left and it turns out she moved out and the landlord rented the apartment to an elderly couple who were very alarmed when I opened the door (my key still worked) and started putting my stuff down. That was awkward. They offered to let me stay for a night, after deciding I wasn't a serial killer or something but I declined, apologized about fifty times and escaped to a hotel. Some heads up would have been nice, I'm probably going to call Joanne tomorrow and yell at her about this. _

_It's a nice hotel though, lots of free stuff and the bathroom is HUGE. I think really anything after that small bathroom in our dorm would seem huge… but I still kind of miss that bathroom. I have a weird thing with bathrooms…_

_Is this okay? The emailing and everything… I wasn't sure if you would be okay with it, but really when I got home you were the only person I wanted to talk to so…_

_I've been staring at the 'send' button for probably ten minutes now. I'm not sure I should send this email… will this just make everything harder?_

_I'm going to hit send now… really… 3 2 1…._

_x Arizona_

_

* * *

_

**_April 5__th__, 2010  
11:31 p.m._**

_Dear Arizona,_

_It's more than okay. Really._

_Mark picked me up at the airport and they had this huge surprise party for me… I think I ruined it by starting to cry half way through when some one asked where this 'hot blonde girlfriend of mine' they had heard so much about was… Apparently, Mark told everyone at the hospital about how I was shacking up with a hot blonde surgeon in the middle of Africa. They all thought it was one of his jokes…. I think it was Meredith who asked me about you or something. Lexie thinks the entire story is extremely romantic, tragic love and everything like that. But then again she's getting married in less than two weeks, and everything seems romantic to her. _

_That's horrible about your apartment… I can't believe Joanne wouldn't give you a heads up or anything. The elderly couple sounds nice though, maybe you could be roommates with them? :D Cristina, my roommate, probably will never move unless Seattle Grace relocates to the other side of town or something. She's likes being so close to the hospital; she can rush to get all the best surgeries. _

_I can't picture you yelling at Joanne though… I can't really picture you yelling at anyone, except maybe Jenny. She was a bit afraid of you, you know. :)_

_Is it okay if I call you? Or you call me? _

_-Callie_

_P.S. I showed Lexie a picture of you I had on my phone. She thinks you're hot._

_

* * *

_

**_April 7__th__, 2010  
1:36 p.m._**

_Calliope,_

_You're right. I can't yell. I tried calling Joanne and yelling at her, but it all ended in about thirty seconds because it turns out she didn't tell me about the apartment because she assumed I'd be Seattle… This is such a mess… An amazing, awesome, and beautiful mess… but it's still a mess. _

_I miss you so much._

_I would love it if you called… or I called. I'll try to call you later today, are you back at work yet?_

_And tell Lexie thank you, for me. :)_

_xoxo Arizona_

_

* * *

_

**_April 7__th__ 2010  
7:44 p.m._**

_Arizona,_

_I start work tomorrow, bright and early for a twelve hour shift… I can't believe I actually missed this hospital. :) Though, I am a little bit excited._

_Have you started yet? I couldn't help it. I googled some private practices and hospitals in the Chicago area… I bet I could get a job at one of them… I know it can't happen, but it's tempting... Why can't it happen? _

_I have to go, Cristina is dragging me away… for something, I'm not exactly sure what. I'll talk to you tonight._

_Cristina says 'Hi'_

_xxox Callie_

_

* * *

_

That night, Callie excused herself from the table at the bar as soon as her phone rang. She caught the knowing looks that were exchanged between Lexie, Mark, Cristina and Meredith as she walked away, but all thoughts of her friends and what they might be thinking fled her mind as soon as she heard the sound of Arizona's voice.

"Calliope?"

"Arizona?" Callie quickly maneuvered her way through the crowd at Joe's bar until she reached the bathroom. She quickly turned and locked the door behind her, deadening the loud background noise from the crowds at the bar. "Are you there?"

"I'm here," Callie could almost hear the familiar smile she knew so well through the phone. The reception was good, even in the bar bathroom and as Callie smirked slightly, closed her eyes and leaned up against the bathroom wall, she could almost pretend that Arizona was standing right next to her. "How… how have you been?"

"Fine, I guess…" She sighed. "Well, as _fine_ as I could be doing."

"Me too," Callie heard her sigh echoed in the other end of the line. "It's… harder than I thought… a lot harder…" Her eyes fluttered open briefly, but she squeezed them shut again, willing herself back to the dusty clinic in Africa or their tiny cramped dorm on the third floor… wherever Arizona was.

* * *

**_April 11__th_**_** 2010**  
**3:05 a.m.**_

_Arizona,_

_I can't sleep. I also can't convince myself it's because of jetlag._

_

* * *

_

**_April 11__th__ 2010  
3:41 a.m._**

_Calliope,_

_Neither can I._

_

* * *

_

**_April 18__th _**_**2010**  
**6:57 p.m.**_

_Arizona,_

_Mark got married today. I was the best 'man' (no tux though). It was an amazing ceremony, outside in this huge park a few miles from the hospital. Almost everyone from the hospital was there, with their pagers on of course, but for once they didn't seem to go off at the most inconvenient moment the way the normally do… You know what I mean? How they always seem to go off just as you're about to go to sleep in your own bed for the first time in a week, or when you're in the middle of a conversation or on a date or something…_

_I really wish you could have been there… Not just there… here… all the time. _

_Cristina got extremely drunk during the reception so now I'm stuck on babysitting duty for a very loud, giggly cardio resident. _

_Call me if you have time :)_

_xox Callie_

_

* * *

_

**_April 19__st__ 2010  
8:52 a.m._**

_Calliope,_

_It sounds like it was a beautiful wedding… Are they going on a honeymoon? Where? As a kid I always used to dream of getting married on a beach at sunset, (original, I know)… Then again, I always used to dream that I was marrying the perfect guy, so... I guess a few things have changed. But still, marriage on the beach sounds pretty awesome. Or anywhere outside, really._

_I finally found a place to live, though I am going to miss getting all the free stuff like shampoo and soap from the hotel. It's this great little apartment about five minutes from the hospital… It's… homey… I don't know how else to describe, but I am SUPER excited to be able to decorate it. It's nice to have a place of my own after moving around for twenty seven months and then finding someone else living in my apartment._

_I think I'm going to paint the walls yellow..._

_xox Arizona (the now non-homeless Arizona)_

_

* * *

_

**_May 5__th__ 2010  
7:12 p.m._**

_Have you finished painting the walls yet? Cristina would violently maim me, then kick me out of the house if I even suggested painting the walls a bright color. Heck, she even gets upset when I try to clean or move anything… I can't imagine what would happen if I painted the walls._

_What happened to all of your furniture by the way? Does Joanne have it now or something?_

_Send me pictures of your new apartment._

_Xx Callie_

_

* * *

_

**_May 6__th__ 2010  
6:45 a.m._**

_I just finished yesterday night. I started hanging up pictures and stuff today and it looks pretty awesome if I do say so myself. I found a picture of the two of us on my phone and I printed it out and stuck it on my fridge… I feel slightly dorky, but I think it's cute and my fridge looked so bare without any pictures._

_Yep. Joanne had all of my furniture but since it was technically our furniture and it was all set up in her new apartment I went out and bought new furniture… I didn't really mind though, shopping is always fun :)_

_I sent you some pictures of the new apartment (including one of the fridge with our picture on it)._

_xox Arizona_

_

* * *

_

**_May 23__rd__, 2010  
12:30 p.m._**

_It's all over the news that there's been a shooting at Seattle Grace… God Callie, please tell me you're okay. I'm buying a plane ticket out tomorrow if I don't hear from you._

_You have to be okay._

_

* * *

_

**_May 23__rd__, 2010  
1:45 p.m._**

_I can't think about anything else. Please email me, call me… something._

_

* * *

_

**_May 23__rd__, 2010  
2:27 p.m_**

_I'm going insane over here... They keep reading names off on the news. They mentioned an Alex… I hope it's not the same Alex you told me about._

_

* * *

_

**_May 23__rd__, 2010  
2:48 p.m_**

_Now they're saying that more then ten people were shot. Derek Shepherd. They're saying he was shot, and Owen Hunt too. I remember you telling me about him…. They still haven't mentioned you yet, and I'm just sitting here in front of the TV in the attending's lounge praying that they won't._

_

* * *

_

**_May 23rd, 2010_**  
**_4:59 p.m_**_._

_Arizona,_

_I'm calling you right now._

_

* * *

_

Arizona grabbed her cell phone off the counter the second it rang. She had been staring at the small silver device for the past hour and as a precaution she had set the ring volume to the highest, most annoyingly loud level possible. Just to make sure she wouldn't miss it.

"Callie?" She asked breathlessly, her hands shaking.

"Yeah, it's me… I'm fine, totally fine…" Callie sounded exhausted but Arizona felt her entire body relax at the sound of the other women's voice. She sank down onto the sofa, still clutching the phone to her ear as the worry slowly drained from her mind.

"You're okay… I mean… you're…" Her voice trailed off, lost in the mess of worst case scenarios she had been imagining all afternoon.

"I'm okay," Callie echoed quietly, her voice barely audible through the phone. "Physically… anyway."

"What happened?" Arizona asked softly as her free hand clenched in her lap. She bit her lip, listening with mounting dread as Callie's voice trembled over her explanation.

"Derek, Owen, Alex… this resident Percy, who I had worked with before… nurses… security guards… he shot them. Derek's in critical condition, Alex is… I don't even know how he's still alive and Percy… he's dead…" Arizona heard Callie draw in a deep breath to steady herself. "The hospital's closed for now… but everyone… it's all a huge mess… Cristina's at the hospital with Owen, Mark is off with Lexie…"

Arizona's breath caught in her throat, and wave of hurt crashed through her body. Callie was alone. After that… she was alone.

"Can you…" Callie stopped and nothing but silence came over through the phone for a few moments. "I know it's hard but… I need…"

"I can get a few days off," Arizona replied quietly, knowing what Callie was trying to ask but also knowing how hard it actually was to admit to _needing_ someone. "I'll be there as soon as I can tomorrow…"

"Thank you…" Callie murmured in reply, her tone slightly lighter than it had been before. "Call me with your flight information and I can pick you up from the airport…"

"Sure," Arizona flipped open her laptop. "I can buy a plane ticket online right now, and I just have to call and let my boss know…"

"He'll be okay with it?"

"I think so…" Arizona bit her lip as she clicked the 'round trip' option on the website. "I may not love where I work, but my boss isn't too bad… he'll understand… I just have to go in tomorrow to check in with all my patients and go over their cases with the other PEDs surgeons."

"Can you stay on the phone for a while?"

"Yeah," Arizona's lips curved up into a sad smile. "I can."

* * *

Arizona saw Callie first. She was standing with her hands shoved into her pockets, staring up at the arrivals board as crowds of people moved around her. Every few seconds her eyes would dart over to the security area where people from arriving flights were emerging and finally, she saw who she had been waiting for.

A relived smile tugged at Callie's lips as she walked toward Arizona. They met halfway and Arizona wasted no time in pulling the brunette into a tight hug. It felt almost too familiar for a moment, almost as if a month and a half hadn't passed since they had last seen each other. It was as exhilarating as it was frightening. It was something that it seemed even time and distance couldn't touch, but it was also something that was going to end yet again in three days when Arizona had to go back to Chicago.

"Hey," Arizona murmured with a small smile as Callie pulled away, trailing her hand down to keep it intertwined with the blonde's. "Are you okay?" She gave Callie's hand a light squeeze as she reached down with her other hand to pick up her bag.

"Yeah," Callie smiled. "I'm better now, honestly."

* * *

Over the next days, Arizona saw almost everything Callie had told her about during those six months. She saw apartment 502, with the blue door and the mess of surgical textbooks and magazines scattered around the floor. Callie showed her the hospital, the outside at least as it was still closed down. They went to a park with a bench that had the most amazing view out over the city.

She met Lexie who had recognized her from the picture on Callie's cell phone and she saw Mark again who turned up the next day to see Callie with a slightly guilty expression on his face. Cristina showed up on the first day, complaining loudly about her boyfriend to a brown haired woman who had looked between her and Callie with confusion as she followed behind Cristina.

"Hey blondie," Cristina said, before disappearing into her room with the brunette in tow and a bottle of tequila. Callie told her that it had been Meredith Grey, Cristina's best friend.

They went to Joe's, where Callie pointed out Izzie and Bailey, the two people Arizona had yet to meet. Cristina dragged them all out to 'blow off steam' on the second night, and Arizona ended up slightly bewildered as Cristina handed her a baseball bat and helmet and pulled her to stand about twenty feet away from a ball machine. Callie had laughed good naturedly as Arizona struck out six times before eventually managing get a hit. And, while it wasn't exactly her favorite thing to do, or her idea of 'blowing off steam' Arizona endured it with a smile because after what had happened everyone around her seemed to need a night of harmless fun. Callie had wrapped her arms around Arizona's waist and nestled her head into the crook of the blonde's neck after she had returned, victorious from batting and had handed the bat off to Meredith.

It was still confusing. Neither Arizona nor Callie had any idea where they actually stood. They held hands and slept curled up in each other's arms but they didn't kiss beyond light pecks on the cheek or the lips.

Three days was much too short a time to figure that out so they existed in a strange state of relationship limbo. Not seeing anyone else and not seeing each other.

It was over far to quickly. And after what felt like mere hours to Arizona, she found herself back in the airport, holding her bag and facing another goodbye.

"I'm so glad you're alright," Arizona kissed Callie lightly before pulling her into a quick hug. "And if you ever need anything… just… you know, call or email me…" She said awkwardly as she started to pull away.

She turned, preparing to walk away when a hand caught her wrist and pulled her back. Callie hesitated briefly before pulling Arizona close and brushing her lips lightly against the blonde's. Tentatively at first she deepened the kiss until she felt Arizona's free hand trail upward to curl around her neck, urging her closer.

When her lungs burned from lack of oxygen, Callie pulled away though her hands stayed on Arizona's hips. Arizona's blue eyes collided with hers, meeting her stare unflinchingly for a few seconds before she back away slowly, smiling sadly.

"Goodbye Calliope," Arizona echoed what Callie had said to her at the airport months ago, before she turned away fully and walked toward the rapidly growing line for the security checkpoint.

"Bye…" It was Callie's turn to wait and watch as Arizona's walked away until the crowd swallowed her up and Callie lost sight of that familiar head of blonde hair. She waited for a few minutes; feeling more alone than she had even before Arizona had arrived, before turning and heading back to her apartment.

* * *

_**May 28th 2010  
7:34 p.m.**_

_Out first day back at work is tomorrow. All of my friends loved you by the way, and they have all decided they collectively hate Dr. Kenley for deciding to postpone retirement. Really though, he's not a popular guy around here anyway. Good with kids, arrogant with adults. _

_I never really thanked you… for dropping everything and coming to Seattle. If anything it makes me miss you more, but I didn't want to be alone after what happened… so thank you…_

_Love,_

_Callie_

_

* * *

_

**_May 30__th__ 2010  
9:25 p.m_**

_I would do it again in an instant, and I know you would do the same for me. _

_I loved getting to meet all the people I had heard so much about. You are so lucky to get to work with people who you are such good friends with, I'm very jealous. :)_

_I visited the Ortho wing today… I'm not really sure why, it just kind of reminded me of you. It's pretty hardcore up there, you know… all those tools and everything… While I was up there one of the surgeons came up to me and asked if I really was friends with Callie Torres… (I guess they had heard somehow...)_

_You're kind of like a celebrity in the Ortho wing you know… I wouldn't put it past him to ask me for your address so he can send you something to autograph._

_Love,_

_Arizona_

_

* * *

_

**_June 1__st__ 2010  
6:33 a.m._**

_Hah! I'm a celebrity, huh? That's kind of cool… Cristina thought the whole idea was hilarious… She shut up though when I reminded her that I had already been considered for a Harper Avery while she had yet to win any surgical awards._

_Sorry this is so short; I've been up on-cal all night so I'm going to try to get some sleep now. I'll try to call you tonight._

_Love,_

_Callie_

_

* * *

_

**_June 9__th__ 2010  
8:32 p.m._**

_Hey… I haven't heard from you in a while, and I miss my daily emails._

_Is everything okay?_

_Love, _

_Callie_

_

* * *

_

**_June 10__th__ 2010  
1:04 p.m._**

_Sorry... there's just this huge case at the hospital right now. It's a really tough surgery and the surgeon I'm working with is less than friendly. We're starting tomorrow so I've been swamped with research and I've barely been home in the past few days._

_I hate going into the OR feeling like this… The hospital is pushing this surgery because the parents are big donors but it's extremely risky… So risky I wouldn't recommend it but both the parents and the chief of surgery insisted, so my hands are tied._

_Love,_

_Arizona_

_

* * *

_

**_June 10__th__ 2010  
5:43 p.m._**

_You're an amazing surgeon Arizona and you'll be amazing in the OR tomorrow. Just focus on saving the kid and not the stack of dollar bills that the hospital is worried about._

_You are great. Amazing. Awesome, even though I __never__ use that word._

_Love,_

_Callie_

_

* * *

_

**_June 11__th__ 2010  
11:32 p.m._**

_The surgery went well… very well actually… _

_He made it through and he's going to be fine. The Chief was happy and the parents gave a large donation to the hospital so… He and the board were very happy… I hate that aspect of our job sometimes…_

_Now… I'm going to catch up on my sleep, but I'll talk to you tomorrow._

_Love, _

_Arizona_

_

* * *

_

"Callie," Mark leaned over the edge of ER desk where Callie was sitting idly, waiting for the phone to ring. "Hey," he greeted her as she glanced upwards. "What's going on?"

"Uh... nothing much," Callie gestured around the ER where several residents were tending to two non-severe injuries from a car accident that had been brought in that morning. "What's up?"

"Well," he shrugged nonchalantly. "This scrub nurse was asked about you after my surgery this morning… she's pretty hot."

"What did she want?" Callie asked, her brow furrowing in confusion.

"_Callie_," Mark sighed in exasperation. "She was asking about _you." _At Callie's continuing ignorance he attempted to explain. "Like she thinks you're hot… and was interested in you… You get it now?"

"Oh," Callie shrugged. "I'm not really interested, Mark."

"Callie, it's been almost three months…" He frowned as she opened her mouth to interrupt him. "I know you two still talk on the phone all the time and email each other constantly, but Callie… she lives in Chicago and you two _broke up_… remember? It's not cheating on her, if you go out with someone else."

"It's not like that, Mark," Callie said stiffly, shuffling the papers around on the desk.

"Then what is it like, Callie?"

"I just don't want to date anyone… right now."

"Callie you practically _are_ dating someone... and I know you say you're not dating her, and she probably says she's not dating you… but seriously?"

* * *

"Calliope?" Arizona picked up her phone on the second ring. "What's up?"

"I…" The words died on her tongue. "Mark told me something today…"

"Are you okay?" Arizona sounded worried, and Callie's stomach twisted into knots as she clutched the phone to her ear.

"Yeah… I'm totally fine it's just… What… What would you think if I told you I was going on a date with someone else?" As only silence answered her question Callie grimaced, wishing she could take the words back and settle back into that comfortable relationship limbo they had created.

But she had shattered it and as Arizona began to speak, quietly, Callie knew without a doubt that things couldn't go back to the way they had been over the past three months.

"I would think…" Arizona took a deep breath. "I would be surprised," she said carefully. "Because you hadn't mentioned anything like that before, but I would also think that maybe it's time we both move on…"

"I'm not," Callie added quickly, trying to salvage the situation. "I don't want to but… even the idea of it… it feels like I would be cheating on you…"

"I know…" Arizona sighed. "A few weeks ago someone asked me out to dinner… I think she was a physical therapist but I said no…"

"Why?"

"Because it felt like I would be cheating on you," Arizona answered quietly. "This is why I don't do long distance…" Callie heard Arizona suck in a deep breath.

"I didn't think we were doing long distance…" Callie replied, but she was lying… It had felt exactly like a long distance relationship and neither of them had brought this up before because they had been so wary of breaking that illusion. "I didn't think we were doing anything…"

"It didn't start out that way…" Arizona remarked softly. "But… it shouldn't feel like you're cheating on me, if you want to go out with someone else… I don't want you to feel like that."

"I _don't_, Arizona it doesn't feel like that… I don't want to go out with anyone else…"

"But maybe you would…" Callie stiffened, ready to deny it. "Maybe you _would_ be dating someone else right now if we had just done the right thing and ended three months ago."

"How is ending us the right thing?"

"It's been three months, Callie… You have a job there and you can't wait for me forever… I can't wait for a position to open up for three years, or however long it takes."

"So what… we have to stop talking and emailing?"

"For a little while," Arizona voice trembled as she spoke. "Maybe for a couple of months? I can't ask you to put your life on hold to wait for me… maybe Mark is right…"

Callie walked out of the on-call room ten minutes later, her phone clutched in her hand as she leaned against the wall. Mark wordlessly pulled her into a hug when he came looking for her after half an hour.

Callie really wanted to be angry with him. She could blame him for what had happened, for putting words into her mouth or ideas into Arizona's head but she knew that had all been there before.

That night she didn't get an email.

* * *

**(Five days later…)**

"Dr Robbins?" A nurse called out as Arizona walked past the desk, her arms full of patient files. "There's a call for you."

"Thank you," Arizona forced a smile as she took the phone from the nurse's outstretched hand and put her case files down on the desk.

"This is Dr. Robbins," she stated as she put the phone to her ear, expecting it to be someone asking for a consult.

"Dr. Robbins? This is Dr. Webber from Seattle Grace." Arizona tensed immediately, somehow assuming the worst. Had something happened to Callie? No… then Mark would have called her, or Cristina… or after the last phone call, maybe they wouldn't have.

"Hello Dr. Webber," Arizona replied politely.

"I was wondering if you were still interested in the Head of Pediatrics position?"

* * *

"Hey Calliope… it's Arizona…" Arizona sighed, holding the phone to her ear as she paced up and down her apartment a few days later. "Dr. Webber called me a few days ago and offered me a job… I guess Dr. Kenley passed away… I know it might have been a stupid thing to do after our last conversation, but I accepted the job…" She fiddled with a stray piece of paper on her counter top. "He asked me to start right away and I'll be flying down there in two days… My flight gets in at 3:30 in the afternoon… I don't know if you still want me there, but I hope you do… I really do… and I guess I'll see you in two days…"

* * *

"Mark you idiot," Callie yanked her phone away from the tabletop. "You spilled coffee everywhere… electronics and coffee don't go well!"

"Sorry, I slipped." He winced, looking down at her coffee soaked phone. "It still works right?"

Callie pressed a few buttons experimentally and shook her head, glaring up at her best friend who was now sitting across the table from her. "No. It doesn't."

"C'mon are you sure?"

She pressed the 'power' button and held the phone towards Mark. "Nope, but…" She grinned. "But that means you get to buy me a new phone… hmm… I think I'm going to pick out a very expensive one… the most expensive one in the store-"

"You're not serious," he protested. "It was an accident."

"You're a plastic surgeon," she remarked, fiddling with her now-useless phone. "You make buckets of money."

"_Still…"_

_

* * *

_

Arizona looked around the crowded airport despondently. Callie was nowhere to be seen.

Her shoulders slumped as she hefted her bag over her shoulder and walked toward the exit, resigning herself to the fact she would be staying in a hotel. She had genuinely thought Callie would show up to meet her… but the brunette hadn't responded to any of the calls or texts Arizona had sent to her cell phone. And the one time she had gotten up the courage to try, no one had picked up the home phone.

She supposed that she would see Callie at work, but now she was feeling slightly foolish. Now she had accepted a job at a hospital where her… ex… girlfriend worked and was probably extremely angry.

It was her first day of work tomorrow and now the prospect of working with Callie was more frightening than exciting.

* * *

"So… this is the ER," Dr. Webber smiled down at the very nervous looking blonde as he gestured toward the expansive ER before them. "If any PEDs cases come in you'll be paged down here, but most of your work will happen up stairs in the pediatric wing."

Arizona nodded, trying to smile as she turned and followed his gaze through the ER.

Her breath hitched in her chest as she caught sight of the brunette sitting at the desk, looking extremely bored and flipping a pen between her fingers. As Dr. Webber walked into the ER, Callie snapped up, trying to look busy but she stopped as she caught sight of who was following him.

Arizona's heart fluttered in her chest as Callie looked up from her paperwork and saw her. She blinked a few times, as if she couldn't believe what she was seeing before getting up and walking quickly toward them.

"You're wearing scrubs," she stated as she walked up to Arizona. "Dark blue scrubs and a lab coat… does that mean…" Arizona smiled and nodded, biting her lip until she saw a huge smile cross Callie's lips.

"You work here?" She asked in disbelief. "You work_ here_?"

"Yep…"

"Dr. Torres this is Dr. Robbins. I'm sure you remember her from-"

Callie took two steps forward before reaching up, cradling Arizona's face with both hands and crushing their lips together. Heedless of the fact that a very surprised Chief of Surgery was standing there staring at them, Arizona kissed her back, grateful to be able to do so after three months of emails and phone calls. She tangled her fingers in Callie's hair, tugging her closer as she wound her arms around Callie's neck. It felt amazing to be back, surrounded by an embrace she never thought she would get to feel again. She felt Callie smile against her lips, as she brunette's hands moved down to settled around her waist, all the time not breaking the kiss.

"Okay…" Dr. Webber coughed. "So… you do remember her…"

Callie pulled away with an embarrassed smile but she didn't look away from Arizona. "Why… how did you…" She shook her head. "Why didn't you tell me you were coming?"

"I did…" Arizona's arms were still wrapped around Callie's neck and Callie's were now curled around Callie's waist and the Chief of surgery was still looking between them in complete bewilderment. "I left a bunch of messages on your cell phone." She reached up to brush a stray curl of hair out of Callie's face, eliciting an adoring smile from the brunette.

"But-" Callie frowned. "I'm going to kill Mark… he broke it a few days ago and still hasn't gotten me a new one…"

"Oh," Arizona almost laughed as any remaining worry was lifted from her mind.

"But… you work here," Callie repeated, almost in awe. "You're here..."

"Yep… The new Head of Pediatrics," Arizona smiled up at Callie, before leaning up to kiss her again.

"Woah... Blondie works here?" Cristina asked as she walked around the corner and stopped dead in her tracks, taking in Arizona's dark blue scrubs and the fact she was still kissing Callie.

"Yes," The Chief frowned. "And apparently she and Dr. Torres and... erm.. very happy to see each other?"

Callie ignored the both of them, her eyes never leaving Arizona's as she stared in still what appeared to be disbelief down at the woman in her arms. "Arizona?" A smirk tugged at the corners of Callie's lips."Just one thing..."

"Yeah?" Arizona looked back at Callie, her blue eyes wide with worry.

"What_ on earth_ are those shoes?"

* * *

**A/N So that really is the end guys.. Thank you so much, all the reviews and favorites and alerts have been amazing.**

**Review for... the last time :)**


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